
(ulSS_ 

l)()ok_ 




PRESHNTi:i) JJY 





»5=««r»-^ 



V\7E take pleasure in pre- 
senting, for your library, 
this book which deals, in part, 
with the development of our 
agricultural colony at Wood- 
bine, New Jersey. 

Baron de Hirsch Fund 



233 Broadway, New York City 



ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 



ADVENTURES IN 
IDEALISM 



A PERSONAL RECORD OF THE 
LIFE OF PROFESSOR SABSOVICH 



BY 



KATHARINE SABSOVICH 



New York 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 

FOR THE AUTHOR 

1922 



Copyright^ 1922 
By KATHARINE SABSOVICH 



^.^ei^ 






Room 1715 

80 Maiden Lane 

New York 

STRATFORD PRESS, INC. — AMERICAN BOOKBINDERY 
NEW YORK, N. Y., U. S. A. 



To live in mankind is far more 
than to live in a name^^ 

Vac H EL Lindsay 



CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Foreword by Eugene S. Benjamin. . vii 

CHAPTER 

I. School Days in Russia 1 

II. Odessa and the Pogrom 8 

III. From Law to Agriculture .... 18 

IV. Among the Don Cossacks .... 22 
V. Facing the New World 36 

VI. Pioneering with Pioneers .... 46 

VII. A Call to the Land 52 

VIII. Opening of the Woodbine Tract . . 57 

IX. Building the Colony (y7 

X. The First Problems 77 

XL Unrest Among the Colonists ... 89 

XII. Added Industries 101 

XIII. Strengthening the New Allegiance . 104 

XIV. Bringing Science to the Farmers . . Ill 
XV. A Pioneer of Agricultural Schools . 117 

XVI. Woodbine Entertains 125 

XVII. New Institutions 129 

XVIII. The Colony Incorporates .... 134 

XIX. Recollections 142 

XX. In the Hearts of His People . . . 149 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 



PAGB 



The Practical Idealist. By Boris D. Bogen . 157 

A Pioneer Social Worker. By Solomon Lowen- 

stein 163 

A Life Nobly Lived. By Bernard A. Palitz . . 166 

Our Teacher. By Saul Drucker 183 

The Baron De Hirsch Agricultural School. 

By Jacob Lipman 188 

The Jewish Farmers' Best Friend. By Joseph 

W. Pincus 194 

The Leader of Jewish Agriculture in America. 

By George W. Simon ........ 204 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Professor H. L. Sabsovlch Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

Woodbine As We Found It ..... . 58 

One of Woodbine's Original Settlers with His 

Family 68 

The Sabsovich Cottage in Woodbine .... 72 

"Rejoicing in the Law" — Simchas Tor ah ... 74 

The Founder of the Colony Personally Supervis- 
ing the Building of Settler's Cottage . . 84 

Dr. Paul Kaplan and Arthur Reichow — Two of 

Woodbine's Best Friends 92 

The Growing Colony 104 

Woodbine's Best Crop 108 

Professor and Mrs. Sabsovich Entertaining at 

Tea 112 

The Original Agricultural School Had More Spirit 

than Body 114 

Campus of The Baron De Hirsch Agricultural 

School 116 

Prize Crop of Sweet Potatoes Raised by Students 

of the Baron De Hirsch Agricultural School 118 

Interior of Model Greenhouse at The Agricultural 

School 120 

Faculty and Students of The Baron De Hirsch 

Agricultural School 122 

First Public Officials of the First Jewish Borough 

Incorporated in the United States . . . 134 



FOREWORD 

Professor H. L. Sabsovich is recognized as one of 
the foremost figures in the field of Jewish social 
service. As a great part of his active Hfe was given 
to the work of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, I consider 
it a privilege to make this acknowledgment for my col- 
leagues and myself to his worth, his merit, and his 
undoubted achievements, as well as to his excellent ad- 
ministrative abilities, as the Builder of Woodbine and 
as the head of one of the Fund's most important insti- 
tutions, the Woodbine Agricultural School, and later 
as General Agent for the Baron de Hirsch Fund. 

He was a very exceptional man, in so far that he 
combined practical knowledge in very many directions 
and good executive capacity, together with an idealism 
as to the coming achievements of the Jewish immi- 
grants, and the part they would fill in American life. 
It is gratifying to remember that he lived to see most 
of these prognostications come true. At all times he 
had the full confidence of the Trustees of the Fund, 
who relied upon his integrity of purpose, breadth of 
viewpoint and capacity to carry out a given program. 

Nothing can be added to the simple and sympathetic 
record written by his devoted wife and to the excellent 

vii 



viii FOREWORD 

appreciation written by his associate, Mr. B. A. Palitz, 
except to say that he commanded respect, affection, 
and a high measure of appreciation from all those who 
had occasion to meet him in everyday life. 

Never a well man, his health was a great handicap, 
but still he sacrificed himself and never allowed his 
physical condition to interfere with his work. 

His death was felt by all the Trustees as a great loss 
to the cause which we were all attempting to serve, and 
every Trustee in addition felt a personal loss was sus- 
tained in taking away from us a man with whom 
we had always worked in complete harmony and 
sympathy. 

Eugene S. Benjamin. 
October 20, 1921. 



ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

CHAPTER I 

SCHOOL DAYS IN RUSSIA 

nr^HE man to whom I was happily married for 
thirty-three years is now some six years dead 
and buried in body, but not in spirit, not in deeds. It 
has taken me all of these six years to reach the point 
where I can speak of him with any degree of calmness 
— of his character, his work ! His wonderful gentleness 
and kindness of heart; his fine, even severe sense of 
duty to his family, his friends, or to the cause in which 
he chanced to be interested, made him beloved by all 
who knew him. And he always had some big cause 
to work for. In all the thirty-five years I knew him 
I do not remember a stretch of time when he was not 
actively engaged in some task of a public character. 
Since his death I have strongly felt that a life has 
gone out so stimulating to the youth of today and to- 
morrow — invaluable from whatever angle it may be 
considered — that, poorly as I may, I have decided to 
note down some of the things I know of him. 

In September, 1881, I met my husband at the home 

1 



2 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

of a dear friend of mine. He was a tall man, very 
slim — all legs and arms it seemed — with a small, pale 
face, illumined by large, clear, gray-blue eyes; the 
features finely cut, and the nobly shaped head sur- 
mounted by thick brown curls. Though only twenty 
years of age he looked older, because of the small 
beard so commonly worn by students in Russia then. 
He had just entered upon his second year in the Law 
School of the Odessa University, where a brilliant 
career was predicted for him. 

It is to his younger sister that I am indebted for 
most of what I know of his childhood and boyhood. 
He was bom in Berdiansk, Russia, an Azov seaport. 
His father died when he was not quite four years old, 
leaving his mother with seven children — four boys and 
three girls. My husband was next to the youngest, and 
his sister, the baby of the family, was only one and 
a half years old. The two eldest boys, big men of 
fourteen and twelve, now became the sole support of 
the family. While nothing more could be expected of 
Grisha, as they called my husband, than that he should 
remain in the Talmud Torah, or Hebrew School, he 
was there distinguishing himself as the brightest pupil. 
In fact, by the time he was eight his brothers were so 
well pleased with his unusual ability and his love of 
study that they decided he must enter the Gymnasium 
just then opening its doors in Berdiansk. Though 
my husband was generally known to his Russian 
friends as Grisha or Gregory, he later in life used only 



SCHOOL DAYS IN RUSSIA 3 

the initials H. L., signifying Hirsch Loeb, the names 
formally given him by his parents. 

Grisha was one of the first recommended for the free 
scholarships which the gymnasium was offering to 
the best pupils of the different schools. The scholar- 
ship consisted of free tuition and free books. It meant 
that he would have to be supported, but though the 
family had to battle with great hardships, it was de- 
cided that Grisha should continue his studies. 

From the first year to the very last Grisha was at 
the head of his classes. But the gold medal which 
was rightfully his he forfeited. It happened in this 
way: During the last year at the Gymnasium one of 
the teachers, who was greatly admired by the pupils, 
was dismissed for expressing a little more liberalism 
than was wanted. The pupils refused to return to the 
classroom unless -this teacher was reinstated. As a 
result of his participation in this protest my husband 
lost the right to the gold medal. 

By the time he was ten he had begun to earn his 
living as a teacher, coaching the more prosperous class- 
mates, and preparing others for their entrance ex- 
aminations. To be sure, the pay was a mere pittance, 
but he was the pride of the family and the talk of the 
town for earning it at so early an age. Money, how- 
ever, did not mean much to him. He was exceedingly 
kind-hearted, and he was always giving lessons gratis 
to his less fortunate friends, especially during examina- 
tion time. 



4 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

"And so," writes his sister, "he worked very hard 
and had very Httle time for play. But one great temp- 
tation he had, and that was flying kites. Whenever 
I was fortunate enough to get one, I knew Grisha would 
join me and leave his books for that sport. 

"He was a great reader. Every moment he could 
spare from his lessons and coaching, he spent in read- 
ing. When we wanted to find Grisha we had only to 
look to Mother's bed, and there he was, hidden in the 
big feather mattress and pillows, cuddled in fairyland, 
deep in his book. 

"Vacation time would come, but he was still the 
busiest boy, for then he had to prepare pupils for 
entrance examinations, and to coach those who had 
failed in the examinations at the end of the year. So 
altogether he worked hard. Every year he contributed 
more and more toward the support of the family — 
and with the best will in the world. He was so grateful 
to his elder brothers for giving him the chance that 
they had missed that he felt he could never do enough 
for them. 

"So it was that working hard, denying himself that 
essential pleasure of childhood — play, he caught a 
severe cold. Inflammation settled on his lungs, and at 
one time we thought that we should lose him. But 
at last, the danger over, Grisha appeared among his 
schoolmates once more, a very emaciated little boy. 
He really looked as though he had been in the grip of 



SCHOOL DAYS IN RUSSIA 5 

death. He was so thin, that I, his younger sister, car- 
ried him in my arms. I remember though that shortly 
after his illness he suddenly began to grow and soon 
shot up into a tall, lank youth." 

It proves how high he stood in the opinion of his 
teachers that although he had been sick during examina- 
tion time, he was promoted to the fifth class of the 
Gymnasium without the test and with high honors. 

In his eighth year of school a number of pupils at 
the Odessa Gymnasium were expelled for being mixed 
up in some Workingmen's Circles and liberal propa- 
ganda work, and had to forfeit their diplomas. They 
applied to the Berdiansk Gymnasium and were ad- 
mitted. When they came to Berdiansk two of them 
became boarders at the house of Grisha's mother. 
Those two boys became widely known in later years, 
Kostia Puritz as a physician, and Lyova Albert as a 
great social worker. All three became very close 
friends. The boys from the big city exercised a great 
influence on the country boy and quickened his interest 
in matters of public welfare. They had lived in the 
midst of the great movements of the time. They were 
full of big ideas and took a great interest in the newly- 
started, revolutionary, underground paper, "Land and 
Freedom," which advocated the taking of the land by 
those who till it, and freedom of thought for all. 

Berdiansk was a small country place, in no way to be 
compared with Odessa, but the three boys were not cast 
down. They set about organizing several "self-edu- 



6 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

cational clubs," each taking the lead in a club where 
young men and women could come together and dis- 
cuss affairs of general interest. That was in 1879, a 
time of great activity in all Russian revolutionary 
circles. Among these young idealists there was no 
question at the time of Jew and Christian, — all worked 
together in the cause hand in hand, organizing clubs 
for the masses. Of course these meetings were kept 
secret. 

In May Grisha and his two chums graduated from 
the Gymnasium, and Puritz and Albert left for Odessa 
to enter law school. Grisha followed them in August. 
To enable him to pursue his studies his two Odessa 
friends, well known there, secured pupils for him in 
advance. So, when he arrived in the city, he found that 
he would have about seventy-five rubles a month, 
which would enable him to support, not only him- 
self, but his younger sister. He therefore brought her 
from Berdiansk, secured lodgings and began to pre- 
pare her for college entrance. 

This was the year that I graduated from Filler's 
Gymnasium. As soon as we were out of school four 
of the other graduates and I felt the need of doing 
something in an educational way for the Jewish poor. 
We decided to open a free school for Jewish girls who 
were not able to pay the fee to attend the private 
schools. Jewish girls were not admitted to the few 
elementary free schools of Russia. And yet we felt 
that these children, being of the poorest class — their 



SCHOOL DAYS IN RUSSIA 7 

families living in cellars and sub-cellars — needed a 
vocational as well as an elementary education. So we 
decided to open an elementary and vocational school 
for the girls, similar to the one opened a year previously 
for poor Jewish boys. Two of us were delegates to 
meet representatives of -the Boys' School. One of these 
men was my husband. 

He often came to our meetings to discuss ways and 
means, and so energetic was the spirit of these gather- 
ings that in a few months we opened the school for 
Jewish girls with seventy-five children. The school is 
now known all over Russia as the "Anna Siegai 
School." Officially the school had to be run as a 
private one, because it was conducted without recogni- 
tion from the government. Funds for running it had 
to be collected secretly, and the money was raised by 
holding balls, bazaars, and similar entertainments. The 
two schools were a nucleus for the development of sim- 
ilar schools for boys and girls which sprang up all 
through the Jewish quarter. To the best of my knowl- 
edge, the original two schools exist today, greatly en- 
larged and extended, and now supported openly by the 
various Jewish organizations and city funds. 

My husband and I met frequently at the organizing 
conferences. Strong mutual interest ripened our 
friendship, and a year later, in the spring of 1881, we 
were formally betrothed. 



CHAPTER II 

ODESSA AND THE POGROM 

^TT^HE spring of 1881 was the most significant, the 
"^ most interesting year in my husband's early Hfe. 
He peacefully devoted himself to his studies, to his 
tutoring, to forming "Self-Education Centers," helping 
in the distribution of underground literature and estab- 
lishing new centers. My husband counted among his 
friends as many Christians as Jews, and visited as 
many Christian homes as Jewish. The question of 
race and creed did not exist among the Intelligentsia 
at all. In the University the Jewish and Christian stu- 
dents were on the friendliest of terms. The meetings 
were just of one body — the student body. The good 
of Russia, of its working masses, of its peasants — these 
were the topics that interested and united the best 
among its members. 

The autumn of 1881 changed everything. The 
whole spirit of the country was altered. The Terrorist 
Movement was then at its height, one high official after 
another having been assassinated. Czar Alexander 
II himself, was killed. The government needed an ex- 
cuse, an explanation, a scapegoat for all the terror that 

8 



ODESSA AND THE POGROM 9 

was raging; for all the panic spread by the thick net 
of secret organizations. It was not difficult to find that 
scapegoat. Among the many, many Terrorists it was 
but natural that there should be a proportionate quota 
of Jews. The press, subsidized by the government, 
began a systematic hounding of the Jews, and de- 
nounced them as "the cause of all the trouble, inciting 
the people to riot and bloodshed." This cry found its 
echo in the universities. The Jewish students began 
to feel a change in atmosphere. They began to feel 
the animosity, not only of the Christian students, 
but of some of the professors as well. It was not 
enough to hear talk of Pogroms on the streets, in the 
cafes, in the places of amusement ; it finally entered the 
university, too. A great many of the Christian stu- 
dents, organized in a body "to help kill the Jews." The 
Jewish students, to their bewilderment and sorrow, 
discovered the existence of the organized body and its 
terrible aim. All this made a lasting impression on 
my husband. 

Some of the Jewish students called an indignation 
meeting, and a "Self-Defence League" was organized. 
Its purpose was to protect the Jewish populace during 
the Pogroms, which every one knew would take place 
during the Passover holidays. Ten of the ablest young 
Jews in the student body took the lead, my husband 
being one of them. At once they began to organize 
the Jewish butchers, grain-shovelers, bricklayers, and 
other young workers of strength and courage. They 



10 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

supplied every one with any kind of tool or weapon of 
defense they could lay hands on, and they assigned 
groups of the volunteers to places in the poorest and 
mor - crowded districts of the city where they expected 
the Czar's mercenaries to do their worst — and where, 
on account of their extreme poverty, the victims could 
not buy police protection after the manner of the more 
wealthy Jewish citizens. 

And one Sunday afternoon — the fifth day of Pass- 
over and the first of Easter — while my husband was 
visiting me, the Pogrom broke out. We heard shrill 
whistling, the smashing of windows, the wild clamor 
of the hoodlums, and, above all, the shouts: "Kill! kill 
the Jews!" My husband rushed out of the house, and 
that was the last I saw of him until three days later I 
visited him in the Odessa prison. He and his fellow- 
students were nursing the wounds they had received 
from the hoodlums, while they were trying to protect 
the homes that had been attacked by the ruffians. The 
police had been out the whole first day of the massacre 
defending the hoodlums. They had clashed with the 
organized "Self-Defence** in several sections of the 
city, and bloody fights had taken place between the 
PogroTitschiki and the Jewish defenders. The police, 
in their righteous anger, arrested every one of the 
young Jewish students and flung them into jail. 

Despite the pressure brought to bear by the fathers 
of the students, a number of whom were wealthy and 
influential citizens, it was at least two weeks before 



ODESSA AND THE POGROM 11 

their trial took place; and then it turned out to be a 
farce, for every one of the arrested men was released. 

It is interesting to note that most of these young 
students of the "Self-Defence League" became in after 
years well-known scientists and social workers. Alex- 
ander Krasilchek, the widely-known entomologist; 
Vladimir Chavkin, the bacteriologist; Kalmenowitz, 
who became later a member of the first Russian Duma; 
the respected physician, Kostia Puritz; and Lyova 
Albert, lawyer, the same youth with whom my husband 
became so friendly in Berdiansk. Of the last-named 
I must speak a little further. 

In 1881, when a young man of twenty-seven, Albert 
conceived and put into execution a brilliant and hu- 
mane plan, which in this country, many years later, 
became well known as the "Big Brother" movement. 
He arranged with local authorities to be notified when 
a boy was discharged from the penitentiary, and Albert 
then took him in charge. He housed, fed and clothed 
him, taught him a trade, and showed him that one 
crime does not make a criminal, and that it was pos- 
sible to save him, both for himself and for the com- 
munity. 

He arranged it in this way. In a set of rooms which 
his mother portioned off for him in her large apart- 
ment house, he opened a vocational school. He fitted 
up the place with the proper accommodations, so that 
his charges could live there, free of all expense, while 
they were getting their training. Then he engaged 



12 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

an instructor, and began a systematic campaign to help 
unfortunate or mistaken young boys to become useful 
both to themselves and to the world. So successful 
was he that it was not long before the authorities them- 
selves took up his plan and carried it out on a larger 
scale than he could afford. Thus from his nucleus grew 
a chain of similar schools that reached into every cor- 
ner of Russia. 

He had a short, but glorious life — ^his name on the 
lips of all liberal Russians. He survived to see his 
efforts take effect, but no longer; for, after he had 
established several homes of this character in Odessa, 
consumption developed and he died. There was not 
any one, young or old, Jew or Christian, rich or poor, 
illiterate or enlightened, who did not follow him either 
in thought or in person to his last resting-place. Every 
class was represented at his burial. As his fame spread 
so rapidly a multitude knew, loved and appreciated him. 
I also wish to speak of Vladimir Chavkin. Years 
ago, while still in his early thirties, he was one of Pas- 
teur's assistants. When the bubonic plague broke out 
in India he was one of the first to volunteer to risk his 
life for the furtherance of science and humanity. He 
undertook, as is now a matter of common knowledge, 
the inoculation of the sick. Fortunately his splendid 
efforts among the plague-stricken populace met with 
such success that his name became known all over the 

world. 

The critical months of 1881 dragged by. The sky 



ODESSA AND THE POGROM 13 

did not clear after the thunderclap. By the time 
autumn came a real movement toward emigration made 
itself evident in the thoughts and sentiments of the 
poorer Jews throughout their pale of settlement. The 
students who organized the "Self-Defence League" 
came together again to help shape and mould the 
Jewish sentiment and to bring the Jewish thought into 
practical channels. Accordingly they organized the 
*'Am-Ohlom" (The Eternal People). This society 
was to decide upon a plan for emigration, and to help 
the needy with funds. Some favored Palestine; some 
the Argentine. My husband came out strongly in 
favor of the United States of America; and so the 
purpose of the ''Am-Ohlom" was definitely settled as 
an aid and furtherance of emigration to America. 
Another of its objects was to show the world that a 
Jew was able to become a productive worker if given 
the proper chance. Thus agricultural colonization took 
shape in their imaginations as the chief objective for 
future time. 

My husband was appointed one of the committee of 
the ''Am-Ohlom/' He opened a correspondence with 
the Jewish organizations in Cracow, Vienna, Paris and 
London, as well as with other Russian societies, for 
the purpose of raising funds. I do not know the exact 
amount of money collected, but I do know that re- 
sponses were very generous, and many, many hundreds 
of the desperate people were helped to emigrate. (How 
my husband kept his health in those days I cannot tell. 



14 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

What with his regular college work, tutoring as a 
means of livelihood, and the work for the '^Ant- 
Ohlom," he rarely had more than five hours' sleep.) 

In January, 1882, the first party sent by the society, 
consisting of only six men — but those the very finest 
and most intelligent — left for Brody to wait and ar- 
range there for the other parties to arrive. By May 
of 1882 three more parties left Odessa, this time hun- 
dreds going in each band. But when the government 
became aware of the large flow of emigration very 
stringent laws were promulgated, and it was impos- 
sible for the third party to obtain passports. To plan 
the work of the ''Am-Ohlowf' therefore became much 
more difficult, since an organization of this character 
was now prohibited by the government. Delegates 
from organizations in other towns were sent to us; the 
"Am-Ohlom'' had to manipulate passports for all the 
emigrants to use, and yet keep its meetings secret. 

Most of the conferences were held in the house of 
Nuchem Rubin. It so happened that on March 13 the 
head of the Odessa Gendarmerie, Sj:relnikoff, was as- 
sassinated. He had been sent from St. Petersburg to 
rout out the nest of revolutionists. He had filled the 
prisons to capacity with the best youth of Odessa. But, 
in spite of all his vigilance, he himself was struck down 
and the assassins escaped. The police were in a frenzy 
and more alert than ever. They noticed that an un- 
usual number of people frequented the Rubin home. 
They became suspicious and, concluding that the meet- 



ODESSA AND THE POGROM 15 

ings were of a political nature, hoped for a clue — for 
some connection with this last Terroristic act, the as- 
sassination of Strelnikoff. So they decided to raid 
the place in the course of a big meeting which was to 
be held March 16. One who took an active part in 
the ''Am-Ohlom" — then a youth of eighteen, a delegate 
from Elizabetgrad — ^the late Dr. Hillel Solotaroff — 
described the raid to me very dramatically: 

"About sixty-nine members of the 'Am-Ohlom' were 
present, and, during the heat of discussion, a late ar- 
rival ran in, pale and trembling. 

" We are surrounded by police and Cossacks !' he 
gasped. 

"No sooner had he uttered the words than the Cap- 
tain of the Police, with several of his Cossacks, rushed 
in. Looking towards the very end of the room, where 
the speaker sat, the Captain said to his men: 

"Take him! There he is!* 

"The man was brought forward, but the Captain 
looked at him and said: 

" 'No, the description calls for a different person. 
The man we want is tall, slim, with big gray eyes, eye- 
glasses, a short beard. No, this fellow does not answer 
the description.' " 

All present recognized that he was looking for my 
husband. By some lucky chance he was elsewhere and 
was not intending to report until the very end of the 
meeting. Fortunately the police broke up the gather- 
ing. They took the names of those present, and ordered 



16 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

them to appear on the following day at the Police Sta- 
tion. My husband was advised early next morning 
by these friends, to leave the city and disappear for a 
week or so, until the trouble should blow over, as the 
Government suspected him of being a party to the 
assassination. He took the warning — the more will- 
ingly that by this time all work for the four parties 
about to emigrate was complete. 

No more efforts could be made in this line for 
many reasons, the main one being the very strict 
police surveillance and their refusal to issue passports. 
By the end of May the last of the parties had left for 
America. 

When my husband returned from his brief exile he 
went on with his studies and completed his third year 
at Law School. 

On April 25th, 1882, we were married. 

The first letters from the members of the "Am- 
Ohlom" in America — from men like the much-loved 
philosopher Bokal, from Dr. Paul Kaplan and from 
Dr. Solotaroff, came full of enthusiasm. Slowly but 
surely the decision was forming in my husband's mind 
to give up law, a profession in which he undoubtedly 
would have made a success, as he was considered by the 
faculty and the student body the most promising and 
brilliant man in the class. He had everything to gain 
by continuing with law, and had only one more year 
at the University. He had my father's promise of 
financial backing when he started to practice his pro- 



ODESSA AND THE POGROM 17 

fession, the ability to assist and ease life for his aged 
mother, to help his brothers, who had sacrificed so 
much to see him get his education — prospects most 
alluring. But sincerity in thought and purpose and 
great idealism were his outstanding characteristics. 
With his rigid uprightness and vivid sense of truth and 
justice, he felt that, as the leader of the ''Am-Ohlom" 
it was not for him to choose a safe and free profession 
in Russia while others were, despite their enthusiastic 
letters, undoubtedly enduring hardships in America. 
Of all the student organizers of the Self-Defence 
League and later of the "Am-Ohlom" he was the only 
one to give up a sure career to take up the dark un- 
known; for, in June, 1882, he decided to live up to the 
idea he was preaching — "Back to the Land" — "Farm- 
ing for the Jews in the New Land." He would actually 
be their teacher and leader, and, to equip himself, he 
would take up agriculture as a profession. 



CHAPTER III 

FROM LAW TO AGRICULTURE 

'TT^HERE was a storm of reproach and disapproval 
from my parents when they heard of my hus- 
band's decision. Agriculture as a profession! To be- 
come a plain mujik — as they saw it. An occupation 
so far below the dignity of an intelligent, balabatish 
(respectable) Jewish youth! But his decision was 
irrevocable. 

I was fully in sympathy with his idea and in July, 
1882, we left for Paris, which boasted a splendid agri- 
cultural college. There, upon investigation, we found 
that only single men could enter, as the college was lo- 
cated a few miles out of Paris and the students lived 
in dormitories. 

However, we learned soon after that Zurich in Swit- 
zerland had an excellent agricultural college, and within 
a month we had left Paris and reached Zurich. Here 
we found quite a large and interesting colony of Rus- 
sian students. My husband soon passed his entrance 
examinations and we settled down to a three-year stay. 

It was during his third and last year that my husband 

wrote many articles on agriculture for the leading 

newspapers in Russia. These called forth splendid 

18 



FROM LAW TO AGRICULTURE 19 

comment and the practical result was that a certain 
Maslinikoff of St. Petersburg, who in later years 
became Minister of Agriculture, asked him to write 
editorials on farming for an agricultural paper which 
he was soon to publish. 

The course completed, in the summer of 1885 we re- 
turned to Odessa, as our friends in America, especially 
the late Dr. Paul Kaplan, begged us not to consider 
emigration at this time. All their dreams of coloniza- 
tion had been shattered. A few farm settlements 
formed in Oregon and Kansas were a total failure, and 
the colonists were all back in New York, working in 
various factories. So we decided on Odessa. 

But even in so simple a venture as a journey back 
home my husband managed to achieve something. Two 
of our friends in Zurich, ithe well-known Pavel Axel- 
rod and George Plechanov, were eager to smuggle 
into Russia a pamphlet which they had written, and 
which they had no way of sending and distributing, as 
the watch on the German frontier was sharp. Russia 
had made a secret treaty at this time, by which Ger- 
many was to arrest and deport any escaped Russian 
revolutionists, and to confiscate any radical literature 
that might be sent through her borders from England, 
France or Switzerland. By the action of this treaty, 
Leo Deutsch (a refugee well known here, in America, 
for the past twelve or thirteen years) was arrested on 
the German frontier when he left Zurich with a large 
supply of revolutionary literature, and handed over 



20 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

to the Russian authorities, who sentenced him to a 
long term of years in Siberia. 

At this juncture Pavel Axelrod approached my hus- 
band. He told him that they had worked out a clever 
way of fooling the customs officials, if only he would 
be willing to undertake the serious mission. My hu»s- 
band readily consented. 

This was the plan: We had a great many German 
and French scientific books. The bindings of these, 
consisting of sheets of paper subjected to heavy pres- 
sure and cloth-covered, were torn off. The revolution- 
ary pamphlets were then pressed together, covered 
with binders' cloth, and the books re-bound. As the 
forbidden literature was printed on the very finest 
tissue paper, whole editions were thus smuggled into 
Russia. 

When we arrived at Odessa the customs officials 
looked into our baggage and began to examine the 
trunks full of books. They could not read French or 
German, however, so they informed us that the boxes 
with our clothes could be sent forward, but that the 
trunks containing books would have to remain until 
they had been thoroughly searched. My husband 
would be notified, they said, when they had finished 
examining them. 

The five following days were long and nerve-wrack- 
ing, as may be imagined ; but finally the notice from the 
Customs House came. Once more the authorities had 
been fooled by the shrewdness of the revolutionists I 



FROM LAW TO AGRICULTURE 21 

It had never entered their heads to rip open one of the 
bindings; and so my husband was spared the prisons 
and long years in Siberia that might have been his fate, 
As a matter of fact, most of the Russian customs offi- 
cials, being ignorant men, v^ere so stupid that the wide- 
awake revolutionists generally got the better of them. 
With a heart full of satisfaction and relief my hus- 
band shipped the books home at once, ripped off the 
bindings and mailed the pamphlets to their destina- 
tions, where they were further distributed throughout 
Russia and Siberia. 

Close upon his return to Odessa, my husband, in 
quite high glee, accepted an offer from Maslinikoff as 
the assistant editor of the forthcoming agricultural 
paper. He waited impatiently for the assignment, but, 
instead, the newly-edited paper arrived with my hus- 
band's article printed in it, and a letter from Maslini- 
koff, saying that he was very sorry he would not be 
able to have him come to St. Petersburg, as the Swiss 
diploma deprived him of the right of settlement outside 
the pale. 

The blow was hard. The question of a livelihood 
became again of pressing Importance. The money re- 
ceived for articles already published had been spent 
as fast as it came. Not having a Russian diploma, my 
husband could not obtain a position as manager of an 
estate, for he was now compelled to live only within the 
pale. So he turned to his good old stand-by — tutoring. 



CHAPTER IV 

AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 

TN the early spring of 1888 my husband received a let- 
ter from a Professor Kusnetzoff, the director of a 
teachers' seminary in the Caucasus, in Eastern Russia, 
saying he had read my husband's articles in Agricul- 
ture; that he was very much interested in them and in 
the man who wrote them ; that he had a big estate thirty 
versts from Yiesk ; and that he would be very glad to 
secure my husband's services as manager of the estate. 

Remembering his sad experience with Mr. Maslini- 
koff, editor of Agriculture, my husband answered 
Professor Kusnetzoff, asking him whether he realized 
that it was a Jew to whom he was offering the position. 
An answer came back stating that he "was above the 
question of race and creed." He "put character and 
manhood above all," he said, "and if willing to take 
the position, nobody need ever interfere with you in any 
way." He offered him six hundred rubles a year, with 
full maintenance for himself and family. 

Always a man to whom money was distinctly a 
means and never an end in itself, my husband was well 
satisfied with the terms. Often have I heard him give 
expression to the freedom that he felt when his earn- 
ings were well disposed of — ^his monthly check sent to 

22 



AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 23 

his mother; and later on to an older widowed sister, 
and his own modest requirements paid for. He would 
then say, gratefully, as one relieved of a burden: "No 
more money, no more worry ! I have given it all where 
it belongs." 

In accepting the offer from the Caucasus he was only 
too happy at the opportunity to do the work he had 
been preparing himself for in the previous three years. 

In March, 1886, my husband, our little daughter 
Marie and I left for Yiesk, a town east of Rostov, on 
the border of the Caucasus — the very heart of the 
country of the Don Cossacks. The estate consisted of 
about 2,000 acres of land. Parts of it were sub-leased 
to Letts, who had emigrated from Lapland several dec- 
ades before, and the rest to the native Cossacks. My 
husband's mission was to bring the land that had been 
sub-leased to a higher degree of cultivation. The 
property was laid out mainly in small fruit orchards, 
yielding apples, pears, plums and grapes, and in large 
fields of rye, wheat and corn. 

As soon as we arrived at the estate, a three-room 
house was built for us, and in this we bestowed our- 
selves comfortably and hopefully. 

My husband's public-spiritedness, which played so 
great a part in his nature, showed itself immediately. 
First he called together all the tenants of the estate 
under his management and informed them that his 
knowledge was at their service; that he was always 
ready, nay, eager to give them advice in whatever ca- 



24 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

pacity they needed it — agricultural adviice above all. 
That whole summer, with one-half dozen men, he 
worked hard to improve the soil, the shrubs, the crops 
— ^not only to make them profitable, but to make of this 
big farm a model for his tenants and for all the farmers 
in the neighborhood, far and wide. He was the 
broadly enlightened agriculturist who knew of the 
latest and best ways of tilling the soil, among a very 
ignorant and backward peasantry. From near and far 
they began to come to him for advice. The very first 
year showed good results from his improved methods. 
The peasants took eager note of it and his name was on 
everyone's lips. 

The hard summer and fall season over, my husband 
started a course of lectures on "The Right Way of 
Tilling the Soil.** Peasants would come, rain or shine, 
with their wives and grown-up sons and daughters, 
often from versts and versts around. The big empty 
barn saw life. It was crowded to its full capacity with 
peasants, very eager to learn and to devour every word. 
And after the lectures were over, the farmers would 
talk about many a topic of the day, hurling question 
after question at my husband, so that time and again it 
would be well after midnight before the gatherings 
broke up. These gatherings took place Saturday eve- 
nings, and eagerly did the neighbors wait for those 
Saturdays to come! What a source of enlightenment 
it was for them! If any of the tenants and neighbors 
knew, or even surmised, that the man they grew to be 



AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 25 

so fond of, the man they looked up to as a true friend, 
the man they could go to in any kind of trouble, and 
who always not only lent them a sympathetic ear, but 
stretched out the hand of friendship and helped remove 
whatever obstacle was in their way, — if, I say, these 
men surmised that the manager was a Jew, they never 
in any way made us feel it. They all felt too great an 
admiration for the Christlike kindliness of the man; 
and this they soon had additional cause to value. 

That very winter diphtheria broke out among the 
children in one of the villages about three miles from 
our estate, and in a few days nearly all the children 
were victims of the terrible pestilence. The ignorance 
of the peasants was unbounded. The only doctor they 
had was a quack, who lived many miles away. As soon 
as my husband heard of the trouble, he drove to the 
stricken village. He found no quarantine whatever. 
The sick and the well, young and old, slept in one large 
bed in the one room, where also were herded for pro- 
tection from the bitter cold the new-born calf and 
lamb, the ducks and chickens, all huddled together 
as was quite customary. And the windows were 
kept tightly shut! The stifling air and the condition 
of the room may be imagined ! 

The first thing my husband did was to drive over 
to Yiesk, the nearest town, which was very fortunate 
in having a physician it could call its own. This man 
was a true friend of the peasant and the poor laboring 
man. He was the leading spirit of every progressive 



26 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

undertaking in that town and had become a devoted 
friend of my husband's, who knew that he would find a 
responsive chord in the doctor's heart. He had no 
trouble in bringing him back at once, with all the neces- 
sary medicines. They separated the dangerously sick 
from those who could be saved, and together they did 
whatever could be done to prevent the spread of the 
malady. Of the twenty-two children in this village, 
only seven survived. 

A week later my husband started a course of lec- 
tures on "Health and Sanitation," the doctor friend 
helping him with material for the lectures. A collec- 
tion was taken up from all the families in the neighbor- 
ing villages, and a supply of necessary drugs was pur- 
chased and installed in each. 

Exceedingly interesting were these two years we 
spent far away from civilization, but in close touch 
with people for whom we could do so much. There 
was work for me to do, as well as my husband, for 
while he was away lecturing and talking to the older 
folk, I taught the youngsters reading and arithmetic. 
There was no school anywhere within miles. 

A few glimpses of the standards and character of 
the people among whom we lived may be in place here. 
They were a mixture of Letts and of Don Cossacks, 
freely intermarried. Often, on Sunday afternoon, my 
husband and I would sit on the steps of our bungalow, 
and several neighbors, with their families, young and 
old, would join us. I remember one Sunday afternoon. 



AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 27 

we were sitting and talking on various topics of interest 
to the peasants, and my husband asked one of them 
the reason why nearly every peasant — even those who 
were quite young — ^have a second and sometimes a 
third wife. The answer came: "Child-birth and tlie 
complications that often followed." These were, in 
nearly every case, the cause of death. And no wonder! 
Whenever a woman gave birth to a child, especially if 
it happened during the summer months — during har- 
vest, when every hand was needed in the field — as soon 
as she had received first aid from an elderly woman 
neighbor or some quack — a doctor was miles away and 
time too precious for anyone to drive for him — she was 
not only left alone, but expected to take full charge 
of all the burdens of the most primitive peasant house- 
hold. And it should be remembered that during the 
harvest there are two or three extra men hired to help 
gather in the crops, and that these are additional 
mouths for her to feed. Naturally at times the strain 
would be too great and she would die. Several times 
I was astonished to find a woman who had given birth 
to a child a day or two previously at the family wash 
tub, or cooking the dinner, or kneading the family 
supply of coarse black bread, a task wiiich alone would 
tax the strength of any man. So much for the legend 
about the easy child-birth of the peasant woman I 

Once a young peasant, married only two years, and 
known as quite a model husband, stepped in, and dur- 
ing our conversation asked me: 



28 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

"How often does your husband beat you?" 

I caught my breath at the question, but looking into 
his face saw that he inquired in dead earnest, and to 
tell him that my husband never gave me a beating 
would appear to him a very poor joke indeed. So I 
answered: 

"About once a year. Sometimes twice — before the 
biggest holidays." 

He nodded approvingly. "You see, Banna'' (Lady), 
he remarked, "I give my wife a beating on or before 
every holiday. (And in Russia they do come very, 
very often.) "You know," he continued, "the best of 
wives will never respect or think much of her man 
unless he gives her a sound beating now and then." 

Among the Russian proverbs is one, and a proverb 
usually tells the tale: "Love your wife as your own 
soul, but shake her like a pear tree." 

I remember, however, the case of a woman who 
my husband saved from a different sort of beating. 
The story will also serve to show the respect in which 
the peasants held' him. We had one farmer, a Cossack, 
who was married to a Lettish woman. He and his 
family shared one ishah (cabin) with his father-in- 
law, a common arrangement among the peasants. The 
old man kept his savings of a lifetime, about one 
thousand rubles, in his trunk. Few of the peasants 
were enlightened enough to keep their money in a 
bank; and the bank, in most cases, was miles away. 
One day the old man found out that the money — ^all 



AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 29 

his savings — waS gone. His suspicions at once fell on 
his son-in-law, who was a drunkard, and who beat his 
wife not only on or before a holiday but whenever the 
spirit moved him — and that was oftener that I should 
like to tell. His father-in-law and his wife reproached 
him, and in a drunken rage he picked up an axe and 
ran after his wife. Their cabin was about a block 
from our bungalow. She ran straight for our house, 
screaming: 

"Save me! Save me! Petrich is at my heels to 
kill me!'* 

My husband, who was standing outside the house 
and saw from afar the drunkard running, pushed the 
terrified woman inside our door and closed it on her. 
He himself stood there defenceless to meet the frenzied 
man. Seeing my husband so cool before him, he seemed 
to sober in a moment, and then my husband, in a tense, 
commanding voice, exclaimed: 

"Stop, Petrich! Have you lost your mind to run 
wild with an axe ? Give it to me at once !" 

The instinctive awe and respect that any peasant has 
for authority won the day. As by a miracle, without 
a word, he handed the axe to my husband, and the 
woman's life was saved. 

Another incident will show the sentiment of the 
peasants towards my husband. The nephew whom my 
grandmother brought with her on a visit, and left 
with us during the winter, was an exceedingly mis- 
chievous lad of twelve. One day, while playing in a 



30 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

peasant's isbah, he approached the ikon, and cut off 
the legs and pierced the eyes of a picture of St. Nicholas 
that hung on the wall. This was a crime against re- 
ligion unpardonable, especially when committed by a 
Jewish boy. In any other part of Russia such an act 
would have immediately led to a Pogrom. As it was 
the peasant swore vengeance. He was a very bitter 
and quarrelsome man, so we had reason to be anxious. 
Unhappily, too, a few days later, his little daughter, 
a child of six, became sick and died. Before she fell 
ill, she had had a childish quarrel with our nephew, and 
he had given her a spanking. And now she was dead. 
The peasant had, seemingly, sufficient reason for a 
deep grudge against us. 

While the funeral was in full progress and my hus- 
band entered the house to offer our condolences, the 
father of the girl stood up, and amid a dead silence 
exclaimed, pointing at my husband: 

"His nephew, the Jew, killed my child!" 

The situation was critical, but one of the oldest and 
most respected men among them rose and said: 

"Michailich, have you a heart? Have you no fear 
of God? This is not the time to wrangle. Besides, 
we all know Gregory Konstantinovich too well and 
know what he has done and is doing for all of us to 
lay blame to him. What troubles are you brewing? If 
his nephew did wrong, we will see to it later. Let us 
proceed, and do not let us defame the holy services of 
the funeral further." 



AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 31 

By the nodding of the heads of all present one could 
see that they were in full accord with the sentiments 
expressed by their elder. Thus a situation that might 
have ended tragically was relieved. 

I recall also another Sunday afternoon. The sun 
is sinking low, shedding its last glorious rays on the 
large orchard before us, and gilding as far as the eye 
can reach the full ripe ears of corn, rye and wheat. 
From afar the bleating of the flock is heard — the shep- 
herds bringing it in. Soon the white masses of the 
sheep are seen huddled against the sky. Nearer and 
nearer they come — the whole large field covered 
thickly, as with a snowy weed. The flaming tops of the 
golden grain furnish a rich foreground. Among the 
dim masses we can soon distinguish the figures of the 
shepherds and hear their songs and cries mingled with 
the bleating of the flock. Closer and closer comes the 
weird music of the balalaikas — the rich sound of the 
concertina. The songs, the instruments, the whistling, 
the bleating of the sheep all produce a confused but 
intense harmony. The setting sun, the thousands of 
shifting, surging bodies, the sun-kissed grain seem 
to make up a huge stage-setting, depicting the pastoral 
life of these simple peasants. That scene has left an 
impression on me which lasts to this day. 

To add to the brilliance of the picture, both the men 
and the women had their best Sunday clothes on. The 
women wore their gay-colored, four-yard-wide short 
skirts, with the blouses of snowy-white homespun 



32 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

linen, low-necked, wide-sleeved, richly embroidered in 
blue and red cross-stitch work. Each had a wide, 
bright sash about her waist, and on her bosom beads 
of every color, every description, row on row. To 
complete the richness and gaiety of that national cos- 
tume there were ribbons — some of them fastening 
the long braids of hair that hung down the back, 
and some going to tie up the beads. Never was there 
a more brilliant and tantalizing display of color. The 
men in their Sunday attire were a fine sight too — 
short breeches of cloth or velvet tucked into the high 
boots; over the breeches a gay red shirt, buttoned on 
one side (called, for that reason, koso-vorotko) ; a 
bright girdle giving additional dash of color; and, to 
complete the costume, a high cap which only the Don 
Cossacks wear in Russia, and which only they know 
how to wear! 

The ensemble was so enchanting that, inspired by 
it, my husband asked a girl and boy of about seven- 
teen, who were known as good dancers, to dance for 
us. Everybody was glad to do what would please 
Gregory Konstantinovich. So, some of the shepherds 
passing by with their instruments were called, and then 
we saw the real Russian dance. The girl and boy were 
beautiful types of the Don Cossack — pure, unmixed 
blood was theirs. Tall, graceful, with the athletic 
vigor that only ever-outdoor life can give, their faces 
strong and handsome with the traits that centuries of 
warrior forefathers had impressed upon them, in 



AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 33 

richly colored national costume, thf^y presented an 
unforgettable picture. Nearby, in * ont of tlie big 
barn, was a platform. We settled ot nselves around it. 
Then, to the music of concertinas, nouth-organs and 
balalaikas, accompanied by whistlinr '<and singing and 
clapping of hands from the whole c -owd, they started. 
I have seen many a dancer in -aver years, but the 
pagan grace and joy of life expressed in every move- 
ment — the dash, the fire, the wo erful setting Nature 
provided, has never, to my ? inu, been excelled or 
equalled. 

But the pleasant memories our life among the 
peasants draw to a close. *oi 

Ten miles away, in a neighboring stanitsa, as the 
Cossack villages are called, lived the old father of 
the man who owned the estate. He was an orthodox 
priest. He had been taught that the Jews had killed 
Jesus Christ; that the Jews were a far inferior race; 
that the Jews kill innocent Christian children and use 
their blood to make Passover matzos; that all Jews 
were usurers ; and such other ugly distortions of fact 
as the Russian Government could use to fling among 
the dark, ignorant masses of people, to avert their 
attention from the real causes of trouble. 

To this old priest every Jew was a most hateful 
person. Besides, long before he found out that my 
husband was a Jew, he developed a grudge against 
him. It was the old man's custom to come to the 
estate and carry away loads of fruit, vegetables, corn 



34 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

and whatever he could lay his hands on. He expected 
to do the same tung while my husband was the man- 
ager on his son's c state. Now, while my husband was 
perfectly willing ij let him have a reasonable quan- 
tity of the producv for his home table, he would not 
allow an extravaga^it robbing of the farms, as he had 
to show the owner tie practical results of his farming 
methods. A clash covdd hardly be avoided. 

It happened thatntpy husband's grandmother de- 
cided to come and vi^tt us, and she set out without 
informing us beforeh^ rJ. She stopped at the stanitza, 
at the priest's house' ^ to inquire how to reach her 
grandson. Then only' did he find out that the man 
who was managing his son's estate was a Jew. This 
was more than his pious Christian soul could bear. 
He began to bombard his son with letters, imploring 
him to consider what he was doing, begging him to 
think of his soul — ^his after-life. And although his 
son had written to my husband again and again to 
tell him how much he was pleased with the improve- 
ments and the results obtained in so short a time from 
his methods; how much he appreciated the splendid 
relation between my husband, the tenants and all the 
neighboring villagers, yet the pasjsionate, incessant 
appeals of the father to his son had their effect. 

In February, 1887, with our two daughters, Marie 
and Vera, we left for America. The two experiences, 
one with the editor of Agriculture, and the other 
with the owner of the Caucasus estate, showed my 



AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 35 

husband clearly that with his profession he could have 
no place in Russia. In June, 1887, on the steamer 
"Fulda," with two thousand rubles given us by my 
mother, we arrived in New York. Dr. Kaplan and a 
few other friends met us at Castle Garden. 



CHAPTER V 

FACING THE NEW WORLD 

/^^AN you imagine all the hopes and dreams that 
^^ were fluttering in our hearts on our arrival? 

Yet the first encouraging words of our friend Kap- 
lan were: 

"For God's sake, why did you come here? I sent 
two letters imploring you to remain at home!" 

We had left, however, before his letters reached us. 
Not that it would have made any difference if we had 
received them. We had no choice but to emigrate. 

A cousin of mine, a photographer named Solomon 
Kaufman, was among those who waited for us on 
arrival. He took us to his home on Eldridge Street, 
where he, his wife, their baby and a boarder were living 
in a two-room flat. 

I must mention here a singular incident in which a 
fellow-passenger of ours played a chief part. With 
us on the steamer was a Pole who my husband had 
befriended on the trip. As he had not a soul to go to, 
my cousin very kindly offered him hospitality for a 
few days, until he should find himself. On the follow- 
ing day the young Pole left the house, saying that 
he was going out for a stroll. That was the very last 

we ever saw or heard of him. His valise and his few 

36 



FACING THE NEW WORLD 37 

belongings were never claimed. He must have been 
lost trying to find his way home. The confusing same- 
ness of the streets and houses must have misled him, 
and owing to his inability to speak either English or 
Jewish, he was swallowed up in the mammoth city. 
All our search for him was fruitless. Whoever has 
read that wonderful story of Korolenko's "After 
Bread," will remember that the plot deals with a very 
similar incident, except that there the central figure 
is a girl. 

We stayed for several days at my cousin's, who 
did his utmost to make us comfortable. The first 
evening the little flat was breathlessly hot. When bed- 
time came, my cousin, draping herself in a sheet and 
taking a pillow in his hand, casually remarked that he 
and his boarder were going up to the roof to sleep, 
and if we wished, we could follow him, as it really was 
airier there! It looked so novel — so funny to me, 
that we decided to follow his example. And when, 
wrapped in sheets, our pillows in hand, we reached 
the roof, we saw, as far as the eye could reach, white 
figures stretched out on all the adjoining roofs. Cer- 
tainly it would have been stifling to sleep indoors, so, 
after another laugh, I settled down to the good night's 
rest which our fatigue insured us. 

A few nights later, when we went to sleep at another 
friend's place, Krimonts, the same funny thing hap- 
pened. Towards midnight, young and old, wrapped in 
white sheets, made a procession toward the roof. These 



38 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

friends of mine had another trouble. They did not 
know how to get rid of the bedbugs which were thick 
in the walls. They were of exceedingly careful habits, 
and kept their rooms scrupulously clean, but it seemed 
that only the burning of the tenement they lived in 
would have saved them from the pest. 

We had been just a week in America when an 
older brother of my husband's, whom he had helped 
to escape from military service in Russia and had 
sent off to America with the second party of the ^^Am- 
Ohlom," heard of our arrival in New York. He was 
living in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he had a 
small picture-frame store. He came to see us and 
advised my husband to take his family and go with 
him to Pittsfield, ''sich ausgerilnen," as he remarked. 
The following day we left for Pittsfield. My husband 
became the utility man in his brother's picture store. 

The rapidity with which he learned English is 
worthy of mention. His brother and his brother's 
friends, who were nearly all illiterate men, were 
amazed that a man only a week in this country should 
read the English-printed papers and understand the 
gist of them as well as they, who were five years in 
the country. It seemed miraculous to them. But 
a man who had had six or seven years of Latin, Greek, 
German and French would naturally read English and 
understand it without much effort. For two weeks 
my husband helped to make picture frames, and made 
himself generally useful about the store. But his 



FACING THE NEW WORLD 39 

education, particularly his knowledge of chemistry, 
made him feel he could use his abilities to better ad- 
vantage. His brother suggested peddling matches, say- 
ing that, to his knowledge, every successful man in 
America had started just that way. 

If peddling was the first step necessary to success, 
my husband was willing to try it ; only he thought he 
would apply his knowledge to it. He bought all nec- 
essary chemicals from a traveling peddler and bottles 
of all kinds and sizes, many of them far from dainty 
and beautiful. What was his idea? On our big 
kitchen stove he began to make perfumes! Several 
unexpected explosions occurred, one of which set the 
chimney afire. In the chimney, as it happened, we 
kept our official papers and documents. They were 
all burned. 

In about three weeks, after all kinds of difficulties, 
after various experiments and failures, during which 
both he and the house were in lively danger of being 
burned, he had a stock of perfumes ready to sell. To 
peddle his own manufactured goods was much more 
dignified than to sell matches, my husband felt. 

Pittsfield had many factory villages on its out- 
skirts. With a newly purchased satchel, heavily laden 
with his bottles, he set out to dispose of his perfumes. 
In his fine European suit of clothes, with his intel- 
ligent face and refined, gentle, sympathetic manner, 
he made a striking appearance. The people were 
used to seeing pack peddlers, but never a peddler who 



40 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

looked like that before! From factory to factory, 
from village to village he walked. Hardly ever did 
anybody refuse to buy, and he would come home ex- 
hausted, with an empty valise. Still, after two months 
of very hard work he found that he could not provide 
suitably for himself and his family. 

Meanwhile our friends had written us advising us 
to return to New York City. They had heard of 
the wonderful success my husband was making in 
manufacturing and selling perfumes. The five months 
of our stay in Pittsfield had, indeed, been beneficial 
in one way. We lived there among Americans only, 
and nolens volens we had to speak English; so that, 
in the five months we learned to converse in that lan- 
guage. Back to New York now my husband went in 
search of work. After fruitless wandering for two 
weeks, he was told by a friend, studying at Columbia 
University — that same Dr. Kaplan — that one Henry 
Rice was looking for a chemistry tutor for has son. 
My husband went to see Mr. Rice, whose son was to 
be prepared for the Columbia entrance examination. 
Everything was comfortably settled, when the ques- 
tion of a laboratory came up. Fortunately Dr. Kaplan 
knew a professor. Baron de Taube, a Russian by birth, 
who kept a private preparatory school for boys. My 
husband went to see him, and Baron de Taube was 
more than pleased to allow the use of his laboratory. 
So the very next day the agreement with Mr. Rice to 
prepare his son for college, teaching him daily from 



FACING THE NEW WORLD 41 

ten to twelve, was made, for the princely sum of ten 
dollars a week. 

It seemed wealth to us then. The two thousand 
rubles that we had brought with us when we came to 
America were gone. Before the pupil in chemistry 
appeared the world had looked quite dark for us. We 
were at rock bottom. Dr. Solotaroff, who had been 
one of the members of the "Defence League" and of 
the "Am-OMom/' and who was very fond of my hus- 
band, found out at that time that we were in New York. 
(He had been living with his parents in Cincinnati 
when we first arrived.) As soon as he could discover 
our address, he came to see us, unfortunately at a time 
when there was neither bread nor sugar nor tea nor 
kerosene in the house. We had no food of any kind 
left, and we were thinking of pawning some of our 
jewelry. Although as students in Zurich we had very 
often pawned our jewelry and silver to help needy 
friends, this was the first time we had faced doing 
so for ourselves. Dr. Solotaroff had last seen us at 
our wedding, in my father's beautiful home in Odessa, 
where everything spoke not only of comfort, but of 
luxury. He was of an exceedingly emotional nature. 
He burst into tears, but, finally controlling himself, he 
left the house. He soon returned with bread and 
sugar and tea and cuts of cold meat. We had a feast 
indeed. This timely help was enough to bridge over 
the bad days. Within a week my husband began to 
teach and the wolf was kept from the door. 



42 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

Meanwhile Dr. Solotaroff wrote a letter to a friend 
of his, Professor Warden, of Washington, D. C, Vice- 
President of the American Chemical Society, about Mr. 
Sabsovich and his qualifications as an agricultural 
chemist. Dr. Warden replied, saying that my husband 
was just the sort of man who could readily be em- 
ployed in one of the thirty-nine agricultural experiment 
stations being opened with, but independent of, the 
State agricultural colleges. He enclosed the names 
and addresses of all the directors who were to be in 
charge of these stations. Our friend came to us after 
college hours — he was a medical student at the time — 
and wrote letters for us to the various directors, until 
all had been applied to. A few days later answers 
began to pour in. Some few laboratories were already 
opened; others were just about to be opened; some 
were being built; others had not yet been started. 
However, the correspondence soon narrowed down 
to five directors of existing laboratories. 

In connection with these applications a funny Inci- 
dent took place. While being interviewed by the direc- 
tor of the Geneva (N. Y.) Experiment Station, who 
he met at the Astor House, my husband was asked: 
"What are your ambitions?'* He answered: 'Why, 
I have no ambitions." Undoubtedly the head of the 
Geneva Laboratory must have been puzzled by this 
reply. My husband took the word "ambition" in the 
sense that the Russian intelligentzia understood it, 
namely, as greed for conquest, getting ahead at any 



FACING THE NEW WORLD 43 

price, at any cost. When next he met Dr. Solotaroff 
and Dr. Kaplan and told them of the strange question 
and the answer he had given, they roared with laugh- 
ter. They had been in the country for five years, and 
knew in just what sense the word ''ambition" is inter- 
preted by an American. 

We had a wide circle of friends in New York, who 
met each other frequently for one purpose or another. 
Occasionally a dance was given for some cause we 
were interested in, and lectures delivered on various 
subjects. When the night of our first dance arrived 
my husband insisted that I go to it with our friends ; 
he wouldn't have me miss that pleasure, but would stay 
at home with the children; saying that he would go 
to the lectures, and that would be a fair division. But 
when a very interesting lecture came up, he would sur- 
prise me by having some friend stay with the children, 
explaining: 

"Not for the world would I go alone and have you 
miss this pleasure!" 

He was a home body primarily and liked best, after 
the day's work was over, to stay there, seated in a 
comfortable chair, with a book as his companion. He 
liked now and then to visit a friend, or to go to the 
theatre, or to a dance given by the community. But 
to have a few intimates in his own home, and to dis- 
cuss matters with them until the small hours of the 
morning, was his chief delight. 

I well remember that spring of 1887. We lived in 



44 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

86th Street, near the East River. The boys — Dr. 
Solotaroff, Dr. Kaplan, the late Nickolai Alehiikoif 

and others — would come for a week-end to the country 

— 86th Street! — to visit us. At one or two a. m. 

I would leave them still discussing some book, some 

philosophic theory, or interesting question of the 

day. 

In May young Mr. Rice successfully passed his 
chemistry examinations for Columbia, and the lessons 
ceased. Fortunately, within a very few days a letter 
came from Dr. O'Brien, director of the Fort Collins 
Agricultural Experiment Station, with whom my hus- 
band had been in correspondence for several months. 
He was asked whether he could come to Fort Collins 
in a week's time, and, if so, to wire his conditions. 
Dr. O'Brien was going to be married and wanted an 
assistant at once. Then the question arose: How and 
where was my husband to get the money for the 
journey to Colorado, not to mention what must be left 
for his family until the first check could be drawn? 
My husband had met Mr. Rice several times, and felt 
that he could go and talk to him. So he showed him 
Dr. O'Brien's letter. 

"You certainly are not going to turn down such an 
offer, are you?" said Mr. Rice. 

"Certainly not, if I can borrow the money to get 
there, and leave some for my family here," answered 
my husband. 

"Oh, that's all right ! Just name the sum, and don't 



FACING THE NEW WORLD 45 

worry about the rest," assured our new friend, handing 

my husband $250. 

On his way home my husband wired Dr, O'Brien: 
"$1,000 a year. Will arrive at Fort Collins within 

a week/' 



CHAPTER VI 

PIONEERING WITH PIONEERS 

TT /"HEN Mr. Sabsovich reached Fort Collins Dr. 
O'Brien left on a three weeks' honeymoon. 

My husband was in full charge of the laboratory. 
Having been but one year in the country he had not 
yet a perfect command of the language, and was not 
quite sure whether his interpretations would be always 
exact. He had engaged in chemical analysis only 
while he was a student and not since that time. Thus, 
being of a very shy nature, it suited him admirably to 
be left entirely alone at the very beginning of the work. 

During those three weeks he worked for Dr. O'Brien 
fifteen hours daily, Sundays included, until he found 
he had a full grasp of the work. When his chief re- 
turned he could not compliment his new assistant suffi- 
ciently on the splendid results obtained in the analyses 
of soils, foods, and so on ; apart from the look of the 
laboratory in general. The biggest thing was now 
accomplished. My husband felt at ease, for he knew 
then that he could handle the work. 

Six weeks later my two daughters, Marie and Vera, 

and I joined him in Colorado. We found a nice little 

home, one or two blocks away from the College, and 

furnished it on the instalment plan with monthly pay- 

46 



PIONEERING WITH PIONEERS 47 

ments of six dollars. Twelve dollars went back each 
month, to pay off the $250 so kindly lent to us, and 
about eight dollars regularly to my husband's mother. 
We still had about $35 a month left for our table. 
We had plenty of wearing apparel, brought with us 
from Russia, and, considering the cost of living in a 
small Western town, or rather village, over thirty 
years ago, we managed to get along quite comfortably. 

Life was very pleasant, and, on the whole, inter- 
esting in this small college town. We were made wel- 
come in the college colony, and soon felt at home with 
our neighbors. That winter my husband suggested to 
some members of the staff the organization of a club, 
to be called: "You and I," where once a week the 
members (everybody eligible) would come together and 
discuss topics of the day, sometimes having a little 
music or a sociable. The suggestion was taken up, 
the club organized, and we spent many a pleasant 
evening that way. 

On March 18th our third daughter, Nellie, was born, 
and in May, very dear friends of ours, Mr. and Mrs. 
Moses Livshis, who had settled as farmers in Kansas, 
about 180 miles from Topeka, wrote to us, saying they 
had a large farm on which they were raising cattle. 
They told us how wonderful their prospects were, and 
that if my husband wanted to save a little money, it 
would be a good idea to send his family to the farm. 
The living would cost next to nothing, as we would 
have to pay only for the groceries. Anything that the 



48 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

farm raised would not count at all, and whatever 
money my husband could save would be used to buy 
cattle and give him an interest in the ranch. 

The farmer's wife and I had been girlhood chums. 
For my husband, therefore, the attraction was not the 
saving part, but my joy in visiting a friend whom I 
had not seen for many years. We tried that plan 
during the summer, but late in the fall the children and 
I returned to Fort Collins, as my husband couldn't 
stand the separation from his family any longer. 

I must mention here one instance of his humanity 
and broad tolerance. One day, at noon, he, passing 
the school grounds, noticed that all the children were 
out playing in the yard, except a little colored girl of 
about five years, or even younger (just a kindergarten 
tot), who stood alone, seemingly unhappy and forlorn. 
That evening at supper-time my husband asked his 
eldest daughter, Marie, who was in the kindergarten 
too, why the little colored girl was left alone and why 
nobody played with her. Was it that she was a bad 
child? 

"No," answered Marie. "J^st nobody plays with 
her because she is black." 

"Don't you think it wrong to do a thing like that to 
a little girl for no fault of hers?" asked my husband. 
"Would you object to playing with her? Fancy if 
you should be left alone just because you are the only 
little Jewish girl in your school? (As was the case.) 
Would you like it?" 



PIONEERING WITH PIONEERS 49 

Marie considered a moment, and then shook her 
head. "Sure, I'm going to play with her !" she said. 

During the second year of my husband's stay at 
Fort Collins, articles on Russia, written by someone 
who signed herself "Princess X'* began to appear in 
one of the leading Denver daily papers. The purpose 
of the articles was to influence the American people 
in favor of the Russian autocracy. "The Czar is as 
kind to his people — the peasants especially, as a loving 
father to his children!" My husband read these ar- 
ticles. Knowing that .the homes of the peasants were 
often transformed into hells as a result of the Czar's 
fatherly ruling, he felt intensely indignant at these lies, 
and at once wrote an answer to them, which was pub- 
lished. 

A few days later he received a letter from Miss 
Scott-Sexton, a well-known woman in Denver, and a 
person of high intelligence and culture. She told my 
husband in her letter how much she had enjoyed his 
protests, and said that she would like to meet him. She 
felt that the articles of "Princess X" must have been 
subsidized by the Russian Government. We extended 
her an invitation to come and spend a week-end at 
Fort Collins. The following Saturday she came to 
see us. She was eager to hear all about Russia, its 
government, its church, the peasants, the intelligentsia, 
the relations existing between one body and another. 
For two days my husband was talking, talking, talking. 
She was so much impressed by all she heard from a 



50 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

man who one could not for a moment doubt to be all 
sincerity and uprightness, that she asked him to give 
several talks on Russia in the neighboring churches. 

"The people here," she said, "are so utterly ignorant 
about the state of affairs in Russia, they are fed on 
such deliberate falsehood as those articles of the 'Prin- 
cess X,* that enlightened, sincere and trustworthy 
information like yours would be much appreciated." 

Glad of an opportunity to spread the truth about 
Russia, my husband accepted the invitation. For four 
or five consecutive Sundays he spoke on that topic in 
the churches of the neighborhood, with introductory 
remarks by Miss Scott-Sexton. 

Meanwhile his responsibilities in the laboratory grew. 
In December, 1888, a well-known lawyer of Fort Col- 
lins was found dead, and his wife was accused of 
pr;isoning him. The trial was held in Denver and 
Dr. O'Brien was chosen as the chemical expert to 
give the court and jury an analysis of the contents of 
the murdered man's stomach. The case was an exceed- 
ingly complicated one, and it kept Dr. O'Brien in 
Denver for three months, on and off. Not only the 
laboratory but the class-room had to be left under my 
husband's care. Since he was a boy of eleven, tutor- 
ing and teaching had been second nature to him. Time 
and time agam the students would come to him, telling 
him how much they enjoyed his classes, how clear and 
simple he made the work. Frequently, too, the director 
of the college complimented him upon the work he was 



PIONEERING WITH PIONEERS 51 

doing in the laboratory and the class-room, dwelling 
especially on the fact that the students seemed to be 
so fond of him. A group of students would often dro 
in and spend an hour or so at the house. 



CHAPTER VII 

A CALL TO THE LAND 

TN January, 1889, my husband received letters from 
old friends in New York saying that large funds 
had been donated to America by Baron de Hirsch, of 
France, the money to be used in settling Jewish immi- 
grants on the land as farmers. Dr. Kaplan, Herman 
Rosenthal and Selig Rosenbluth had been asked by 
the Committee appointed to administer the Fund, to 
join them and help them with their great task. They 
were representative of the intelligent Russians of the 
East Side. The members of the American Committee 
of the Baron de Hirsh Fund were among the best 
known persons in New York. Such men as Jacob 
Schiff, Dr. Julius Goldman, Judge M. S. Isaacs, the 
late James H. Hoffman, Oscar Straus, Henry Rice, 
William B. Hackenburg and Judge Meyer Sulzberger, 
of Philadelphia, served on the Committee. 

A month later another letter came asking my husband 
to give in writing his ideas upon the subject of "Farm- 
ing for the Russian Jew." With great enthusiasm 
indeed he took up this task. The old dream that like 
a flame smouldered in his heart blazed up, and that 
never-forgotten "Back to the Land" cry awoke in him 
again. The Russian Jew, who of necessity has become 

52 



A CALL TO THE LAND 53 

solely a trader, might yet, he thought, as a farmer, 
rejuvenate his race. Many times that winter he told 
me how much joy it had given him to write those 
letters on "The Jew and Farming" for the Baron de 
Hirsch Fund. How much he dreamed of the realiza- 
tion of his hopes for the Jews as farmers! 

One Tuesday in May, 1890, my husband received a 
telegram asking him to take eight days' leave, if pos- 
sible, in order to be in New York on the following 
Sunday afternoon, to be present at a committee meet- 
ing of the Baron de Hirsch Fund. He did not have 
the shadow of an idea that to attend this meeting 
would mean a change in all his future life and that 
of his family; that he would be leaving a quiet, peace- 
ful life — the life of a scientist, of a college professor — 
for one of turbulence, excitement, misunderstanding, 
worries, and nerve-wracking anxieties; that he would 
have to deal with classes of people so widely different 
from one another — the Jewish immigrant, quite un- 
couth and raw in some cases, and the executive mem- 
bers of the Board of Directors, the highly cultured 
product of the best American standards, poor work- 
ingmen, rich employers of immigrant labor, foreign 
school-boys and American instructors in the agricul- 
tural school later founded by my husband. Their ways 
of thinking, their sentiments differed so widely that 
to make them understand each other and to sense each 
other's point of view would have been a staggering 
task for even an older and more experienced man. 



54 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

With no thoughts like these in mind he went to the 
president of the college and showed him the telegram. 
Dr. O'Brien very kindly consented to the eight days* 
leave. With his daughter Marie, who could hardly 
ever be parted from her father, he left for New York. 
Exactly what took place at the meeting of the Baron 
de Hirsch Fund Committee, that following Sunday, 
I do not know ; but on Monday I received a telegram, 
saying: 

'*Get ready. Am coming to take you and children 
to New York.'* 

To say that I was surprised is saying very little. 
Neither my husband nor I had had the slightest inkling 
of an offer to manage the proposed Jewish Colony 
awaiting him at that Sunday conference. He told me 
how surprised and pleased he had been when upon 
entering the room, a man came forward and greeted 
him with outstretched hands. That man was the only 
one present who he knew, being none other than 
Henry Rice, who had helped him to get to Fort Collins. 
My husband felt the pleasure of meeting him the more 
keenly, as by this time he had paid off the debt. 

When my husband returned and told the president 
of the college that he had come back to resign, the 
president was dumfounded. 

"Professor Sabsovich," he said, "you know that 
at our last meeting we voted an increase in your salary 



A CALL TO THE LAND 55 

and the Board will decide on another very soon, because 
we would hate to lose you. All of us, both the faculty 
and students, appreciate the value of your services/* 

Though my husband knew that the sentiments of 
everyone in the college were of the warmest, still he 
was surprised and deeply touched by the president's 
words. He told him that no money consideration had 
played a part in the change he was making; he was 
to take up work for a cause that had been the dream 
of many years, for which, several years previously, 
he had sacrificed his home and his prospects in the 
legal profession, far better paying than any professor- 
ship and certainly more than the social work he was 
to undertake now. He made it clear that only work 
for the good of his own people, work that he had 
dreamed of for years, led him to resign. As a matter 
of fact, when the Baron de Hirsch Fund Committee, 
upon engaging him, asked what salary he would con- 
sider proper, he answered promptly: "My present sal- 
ary." And this was $1,200 a year. 

Three days later we left for New York. While in 
the Fort Collins station a telegram was handed to my 
husband which read: 

*We offer you the chair of Agricultural Chemistry. 
Answer. President, 

"Wyoming College.'* 

Needless to say he replied: 
"Regret, but it is impossible.** 



56 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

On arriving in New York my husband found the 
administrative organization completed and work await- 
ing him. The board to administer the Baron de Hirsch 
Fund was made up as follows: 

Judge M. S. Isaacs, Jacob H. Schiff, Jesse Seligman, 
Dr. Julius Goldman, Henry Rice, Judge Mayer Sulz- 
berger, Honorable Oscar Straus, William B. Hacken- 
berg and James H. Hoffman. 

Let me say here that these men of high purpose 
and ideals and their successors were ever an inspira- 
tion to my husband and he enjoyed the full confidence 
of the trustees throughout his twenty-five years of 
afifiliation with the Fund. To carry their plans into 
effective execution was always a source of keenest 
pleasure to him. 

With the presidents of the Fund, who have been 
three since its inception.: Judge Isaacs, Dr. Julius Gold- 
man and the present incumbent, Eugene S. Benjamin, 
he was always in close contact. Of the original Board 
only Judge Sulzberger remains in ofBce. The addi- 
tional new members are: Mortimer L. Schiff, Herbert 
H. Lehman, Max J. Kohler, Judge Nathan Bijur, S. 
G. Rosenbaum, Abram I. Elkus, Charles L. Bernheimer, 
Alfred Jaretzki, S. F. Rothschild, S. S. Fleisher and 
Julius Rosenwald. 



CHAPTER VIII 

OPENING OF THE WOODBINE TRACT 

CEVERAL parcels of land for the new colony- 
had at once been offered and my husband's first 
duty, as superintendent of the enterprise, was to select 
the right one. With Herman Rosenthal, who was to 
be in charge of the New York office where applicants 
were received, Selig Rosenbluth and Dr. Kaplan he 
visited several, among them the 3,000 acres in southern 
New Jersey that is the Woodbine Colony of today. 

It was cheap land, but, apart from that consider- 
ation, the Committee had other reasons for making 
the choice. For purposes of raising fruit, vegetables 
and corn it was very good. My husband told me that 
although there were undoubtedly better localities inso- 
far as marketing facilities went, and richer soils, the 
Committee would rather spend the difference in prepar- 
ing the land for the future farmer, enriching it accord- 
ing to modern scientific methods. The Woodbine 
Tract was bought August 11, 1891. 

My husband, with twelve picked "pioneer farmers," 
left for Woodbine. None of the men had much money 
and hardly one of them could speak English or knew 
anything about farming. What is today a thrifty little 

57 



58 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

town surrounded by farms, consisted then of just a 
railroad station, one house owned by an old couple, 
and a shanty across the track. All this was so thickly 
surrounded by woods as far as the eye could reach 
that I remember we always feared the children might 
stray away and become lost therein. A single track 
of the West Jersey Railroad passed through, and the 
main occupation of those who lived nearby was wood- 
chopping, although there was also an occasional farmer. 

Of the six-roomed houses quickly erected, my hus- 
band chose one for his home. He then bought thirteen 
big straw hats and thirteen pairs of overalls, and with 
his twelve pioneer farmers began to measure off the 
woods. In this undertaking he had the expert help 
of the surveyor from Dennisville, the nearest village. 
Those were real pioneer times! With just a blanket 
and pillow under each one, all thirteen slept right on 
the floor. Certainly nobody could accuse my husband 
of being an aristocrat or behaving like one! 

He was scrupulously careful of every cent he was 
obliged to spend of the Fund's money. He always 
felt that money spent carelessly might deprive another 
immigrant of the chance of becoming a farmer. While 
traveling about, looking for land, he and his three asso- 
ciates economized even on their food. Instead of 
taking their meals at a hotel, they would buy a few 
sandwiches and milk from a neighboring farmer. 

In a few months new applicants began to arrive. By 
November and December, 1891, there were sixty, all 














% -..^K*. 






>**/.4fci»^..:ji^ir,"»^: 






♦ •*f5^:''- .?» 






^t' '#«">#«':-♦'' 



.*iSf*'' 






O 



c 
IS 

o 



OPENING OF WOODBINE TRACT 59 

picked men. A widow, with several children, cousin 
of one of our farmers, was given the use of the other 
six-room house just opposite the one my husband 
selected for a home. She was to provide food for 
all those who were willing to board with her. A big 
barn was erected for the sixty men to live in tem- 
porarily and a great stove installed. Those sitting 
close to it felt warm, while the rest had to use their 
imaginations a good deal. So much for the accom- 
modations. 

A practical farmer, Frederick Schmidt, was engaged 
as assistant to my husband. He had very hard work 
at the start, surveying and dividing the land into farms. 
Each of the farmers was allotted thirty acres of land, 
which he was to clear for himself. In order to avoid 
a suggestion of pauperizing the settler, the Fund paid 
him for preparing his soil for cultivation, inasmuch as 
there was no other method of gaining a livelihood. 
Later on, in paying for the farm, sums advanced when 
the land was in process of preparation for cultivation 
were added to the cost of the farm. 

As the Jews were totally inexperienced in this work 
of chopping down trees and pulling up tree-stumps, the 
labor seemed to them as difficult as tearing down the 
Egyptian pyramids. We must not forget that, as a 
rule, these men had never done any hard physical labor 
before. They were mostly tradesmen. To encourage 
them, to show them that the work was not terribly 
hard in itself, only seeming so on account of their 



60 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

inexperience, several woodchoppers from DennisviIIe 
were employed to work alongside of them. The inex- 
perienced beginner and the professional chopper were 
paid alike, just as an encouragement to the immigrant 
farmer; for, if he had not been paid for his labor, 
he would have thrown up his hands in disgust too 
early in the venture. Needless to say, the productive- 
ness of the old-time woodchopper was incomparably 
higher than that of the future farmer; but paying 
them alike for widely different results served a certain 
big purpose. The future farmer was being slowly 
but surely acclimated. He was getting used to hard 
physical labor and making a living wage at the same 
time. 

Woodbine, in May, 1892, was a veritable bee-hive. 
On the one side of the track was the little boarding- 
house of Mrs. Lipman, who was the sweetest, kindest 
of women. She made her hearth the fireside of every 
man who, in the cold evenings, had nothing but a barn 
to go to — cold comfort indeed after a trying day^s 
work in the open. On the other side of the railroad, 
at the back of the house, was ray husband's office, 
always crowded to capacity, in the evenings, with men 
who came in to be paid for work done ; to have money- 
orders sent with letters to the folks back home ; or to 
ask all kinds of advice. 

A grocery was soon opened. People would come 
many miles to see the new settlement ; it was the talk 
of the county. 



OPENING OF WOODBINE TRACT 61 

My husband devoted himself to his duties. He loved 
his work and was happy doing it. At seven in the 
morning he would leave for the woods with one batch 
of men, and his very able assistant, Mr. Schmidt, 
would lead away another. At twelve they would re- 
turn, and at one o'clock go back to their hard labor 
again. At seven in the evening, when most people 
think of resting, Mr. Schmidt and my husband would 
give advice and counsel to the sixty men. It would 
often be nearly midnight before the last man left. 

Besides all this, he began to write articles on agricul- 
ture for a newly established paper called *The Bul- 
letin." One of his articles appeared in the first number, 
and soon after its publication he received the follow- 
ing letter: 

"My dear Professor Sabsovich: 

"We have read with great interest your articles on 
farming. We are very eager for this kind of infor- 
mation. We are editing *The Farmer' here, and I 
promised our readers a double supply of your valuable 
articles on agricultural subjects. 

"Yours, 

"Benjamin Greenberg." 

Saving money for the Fund was an idea ever pres- 
ent with him. It took quite a while to persuade my 
husband that a direct entrance to the office from the 
street would give me some much-needed privacy, al- 
though it did not make an extravagant outlay of Fund 
money. The cost was about eight dollars. 



62 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

Nor would he, either, spare his strength wliere sav- 
ing for the Fund was concerned. For several months 
he daily walked miles and miles through the scrub pine 
and sand to visit the sections where the different shifts 
of men were cutting down trees. He would return in 
the evening exhausted. It also took time to convince 
him that the expense of a horse and buggy would be 
more of an economy for the Fund than a physical 
breakdown for him. At last he agreed and bought a 
horse and carriage. 

His belief in the honesty of others was a reflection 
of his own character. It was really the first time that 
he had ever had to have business dealings requiring 
the special kind of caution necessary to cope with 
Yankee horse-traders. But he soon had his experi- 
ences! He knew little of horses and less of horse- 
dealers. The first one he bought nearly killed him, 
as well as those riding with him. He had been victim- 
ized. The horse was a high-kicking one, not fit for 
use. The dealer found my husband an easy mark for 
his game; so, after the carriage had been broken and 
the driver bruised badly, the horse was given away 
and my husband bought another. 

This one. Dandy by name, was a dandy in looks and 
spirit; too high-spirited, indeed! Until that time it 
had been my husband's impression that it was the priv- 
ilege of mankind only to be nervous. He very soon 
found out that horses have temperament too, and that 
Dandy had it in a very high degree. A few arms and 



OPENING OF WOODBINE TRACT 6Z 

necks were twisted in the period of Dandy's service 
but no greater calamity occurred. Before anything 
serious could happen to her owner Dandy broke her 
neck in a fit of fright at an approaching train. My 
husband had twice been fooled; because the dealers mis- 
represented what they sold. Without expert advice,, 
he did not, therefore, buy horses any more. 

The plans for the farmers' houses, which had been 
drawn by a New York architect, were now ready. 
All the former carpenters, mechanics and painters who 
we had among our future farmers, were given prefer- 
ence for the work. A great many men, too, were sent 
by Mr. Reichow, then head of the United Hebrew 
Charities, to do odd jobs, such as clearing woods, pull- 
ing stumps, building and painting. The plots on which 
the houses were to be erected were cleared of stumps 
and leveled in the spring of 1891, and the building 
of the sixty farm-houses began. All the ordering of 
the materials for building was done through my hus- 
band, and here he came across for the first time what 
he thought was graft. 

When paying the first large check, amounting to a 
good many thousands of dollars, for the building 
materials, the owner of the mill told my husband that 
he was entitled to a certain commission on the deal. 

"Why, I am paid for my work," he answered. 
"What does the commission amount to?'* 

On being told, he asked the dealer to deduct this 
sum from the total cost of the materials. During the 



64 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

years my husband worked for the Fund, whenever this 
kind of an offer was made to him, and it was made 
by every new dealer, his answer was always the same : 
"Deduct my commission from the cost of the goods." 

Taking account of the money laid out by him for 
the Fund in building the farm-houses, the little town, 
with its numerous factories, and the agricultural school, 
no mean sum was saved by him in this way. In later 
years the remark was sometimes made: "Professor 
Sabsovich must have made lots of money in Wood- 
bine." They undoubtedly judged him by accepted 
business methods, not knowing that there was in him 
a much higher standard of honor. To him, every 
dollar of the Fund was a sacred trust. 

Not only the business people, but the farmers, too, 
had to be taught a lesson in this respect. The very 
first year that they raised any produce, whether veg- 
etables, fruit, fowls, butter, eggs or cheese, a donation 
wou'ld be brought. This custom, so much in vogue in 
Russia, where the tenant endeavors thus to keep in 
the good graces of the landlord, being out of place 
here, where my husband was manager, was discour- 
aged. Invariably, when any of the farmers would 
bring In a gift, my husband or I would ask: 

"How much does it cost?" 

"Why, nothing," would be the usual answer. 

"Didn't you work hard for it? Did it cost you 
nothing? We will not take anything for nothing. 



OPENING OF WOODBINE TRACT 65 

Either you are paid what everybody else pays you or 
you take it home." 

And never did the same farmer try it again. 

I remember that two years later, in 1897, my hus- 
band was asked to go to Canada by the Fund Com- 
mittee to investigate conditions of farming there. It 
was a strenuous trip, lasting several weeks. His report 
pleased the Committee very much, and they expressed 
appreciation, apart from words, by sending him a 
check. He sent it back at once with the following 
letter: 

"My dear Dr. Goldman: 

"Your favor of the 14th, with the enclosed extra 
check as compensation for my report on the Hirsch 
Colony in Canada, was received this morning. Highly 
as I appreciate your commendation, I feel it incon- 
sistent with my status as an employee of the Fund to 
receive extra compensation for work ordered by the 
Fund. I am fully satisfied with the mere appreciation 
of my work, not expressed in a sum of money. There- 
fore you will kindly take back the check sent me by 
Mr. A. A. Solomons. 

"Yours truly, 

"H. L. Sabsovich." 

I recall distinctly the answer my husband received 
from Dr. Goldman, the Fund's president, who had a 
generous heart, wonderful vision, fine constructive 
ability and sincere love for the work and was always 
a staunch supporter of whatever Prof. Sabsovich 



(^ ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

planned for the welfare of the farmers or factory 
employees. He wrote: 

"The return of the check was a source of great 
pleasure to me. My faith in your fine judgment in 
questions of integrity is upheld again." 

The words may not have been exactly these, for it 
is about twenty-eight years since they were written, 
but they represent the essence of the sentiment ex- 
pressed. 



CHAPTER IX 

BUILDING THE COLONY 

nr^HE spring of 1892 rises vividly in memory. The 
sixty farmers are cutting off the woods, clearing 
the land of stumps, and assisting carpenters, brick- 
layers and mechanics hired in New York or Philadel- 
phia to build their houses. Barns and other out- 
buildings are springing up. In a short time this waste 
land, stretching for miles, has been transformed as 
though a magic wand had been waved over it. The 
people on the trains passing to the watering-places and 
resorts — Cape May and Ocean City — during the sum- 
mer months of this year could hardly believe the testi- 
mony of their eyes. What had been, a short time 
before, a stretch of barren, desolate pines, was changed 
and enlivened so that they did not recognize it. For, 
when they reached Woodbine, the monotonous scene 
blossomed into new houses, brightly-painted outbuild- 
ings, surrounded, where the pines had been cut away, 
with crops and young orchards. Inquiring, they would 
be informed that the wealth of the philanthropist, 
Baron de Hirsch, had made all this possible. 

The Committee in charge of the Fund realized from 
the very start that it would take several years before 



68 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

the farms could be made to pay and their owners en- 
abled to draw a living from them. They realized full 
well that it might take a decade before the dwellers 
in the Ghetto, traders for generations out of sheer 
necessity and denied access to the soil, would become 
successful husbandmen. 

To enable the farmers to work their lands and at 
the same time to make a living, it was decided to pro- 
vide a place for other industries. The Baron de 
Hirsch Committee persuaded one manufacturer after 
another to move his plant from the city, agreeing to 
furnish the employees with homes. Thus factories were 
built, with great lofts and large windows close to one 
another, so different from the dirty, dark sweatshops 
of New York and Philadelphia! 

At first one large factory was erected, with a few 
dozen houses close by, and these formed the nucleus 
of Woodbine Village. The houses near the new plant 
were occupied by its managers, officers and employees; 
and so the first clothing factory was opened in the 
autumn of 1892; and all, young and old, found work 
there. By this time, too, the farmers and their families 
were comfortably settled in their farmhouses. 

A crying need for a public bath-house soon arose, 
for a bath-room in a house was an unheard-of luxury. 
About February, 1893, the public bath-house opened 
its doors for the use of the people of Woodbine, free 
of charge. It was built of brick and comprised the 
Russian steam and plunge baths. The Committee pre- 



BUILDING THE COLONY 69 

sented two lots to the Brotherhood for the building, 
and loaned them $2,000 at four per cent, to help erect 
it. Brick, obtained on Goodman's farm, was bought, 
and the colonists put up the building themselves, at 
their own expense. It later became the property of 
the whole community. 

The farmhouses were heated by wood fires, so a 
wood-chopping and drying machine, to make kindling 
wood both for the use of the settlers and for sale in 
the markets of Philadelphia, was installed. In fact, 
during the first years of Woodbine, you might see at 
every corner countless piles of cord-wood, chopped by 
the pioneer workers, ready for shipment to a firm in 
Philadelphia. 

The farmers were a mixed class and came from 
all parts of Russia — Courland, South Russia, Polish 
Russia (then) and Galicia, Austria. We had a dozen 
families who would be a pride to any settlement, 
especially the young people — intelligent, wide-awake, 
ambitious. To keep these, particularly, contented on 
the farm and in the village, some great attraction must 
be planned; the social side of the settler's lives must be 
developed. My husband realized quickly enough that 
it would be his duty to make life pleasant for them 
and their families; and at the first opportunity that 
afforded, our little house was made the social center. 

One Sunday in May, 1892, we were to entertain at 
dinner the members of the Baron de Hirsch Committee 
and their wives. It was the first time that the whole 



70 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

Committee had planned to come at once to Woodbine 
to see the work that had been done. My husband 
expected from fifteen to eighteen persons. Not hav- 
ing had much experience in entertaining so many, we 
ordered everything in rather large quantities, to be on 
the safe side. 

The dinner was ready to be served when my hus- 
band, who had gone to the station to meet the visitors, 
returned with a telegram which said that on account 
of the inclement weather, the trip to Woodbine would 
have to be postponed. It had, indeed, been raining 
for the last three days. Needless to try to describe 
our feelings, after the efforts we had put forth to 
make the dinner a success, let alone the expenditure! 
We had, however, the satisfaction of having with us 
one of the members of the Board of Directors, the 
late Mr. Hoffman, who arrived with his son. Unaware 
of the Committee's change of plans, he had been in 
Chicago for a few days, and came to Woodbine direct 
on the day set for the meeting. Of course there was 
an abundance of food left over; so, in the evening 
we invited all the young folks to supper. This was 
the first impromptu social given them, and if the dinner 
did not materialize, the supper was voted a howling 
success. 

I must also note the first wedding that took place in 
Woodbine. A newly-arrived immigrant, a Hercules 
in build and strength, Glaser by name, had drifted 
to Woodbine looking for work. He was given em- 



BUILDING THE COLONY 71 

ployment cutting down trees and pulling up stumps. 
He used to work sixteen hours a day, making four or 
five dollars daily — then an unheard-of figure. 

He took a fancy to a girl who also had come to 
Woodbine in search of work. Sarah, as was her 
name, was employed in the boarding-house. Soon 
they were engaged, and my husband decided that their 
wedding, the first in Woodbine, should be a social 
event for the colony. A certain sum of money was 
allotted for the wedding-feast and everybody was in- 
vited. The factory was turned into a banquet-hall. 
Musicians from Philadelphia were hired to play the 
dance music, and all had a good time. Not until the 
early hours of the morning did the party break up and 
the guests bid good-bye to the happy couple. 

To provide for the future of the pair, both orphans, 
and realizing what a wonderful worker the man was, 
with all the promise of a splendid future farmer if 
but given the chance, my husband assigned him a farm, 
where he and his wife settled down, raising, besides 
cows, poultry, vegetables and fruit, a fine crop of seven 
children. 

Every birthday of my husband's or of any member 
of his family was made a pretext for an entertainment 
and informal dance at our little house. In later years 
we used the hall at our agricultural school. All the 
young folks were invited, refreshments were served, 
and everyone enjoyed a jolly evening. 

An event of interest shining out as a memory aniong 



72 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

the laoors and trials of early Woodbine days, a merry 
one chronicled by the Cape May Gazette of March 3, 
1899— "Prof. H. L. Sabsovich's Birthday" is here- 
with given in the language of that papar: 

"On Friday evening, February 24, the 39th anniver- 
sary of Prof. H. L. Sabsovich's birthday was merrily 
celebrated at his residence. The main features of the 
evening were a concert given by some Philadelphia 
artists and the music of Mr. Lippincott — which made 
everybody dance. The pupils of the Agricultural 
School were represented by a committee of three, one 
of whom read a very well-written address, which 
appears below. Three of the most prominent alumni 
of the school presented to Prof. Sabsovich a small 
gold locket containing their photos and an appropriate 
inscription. Mr. Kotinsky made the presentation 
speech, to which Prof. Sabsovich responded in a few 
touching words. While refreshments were served 
toasts were offered by many of the people present, 
Mr. Fred Schmidt acting in the capacity of toast- 
master. We beg to extend our sincerest congratula- 
tions to Superintendent Sabsovich and hope that he 
will be spared for many years to continue his noble 
work." 

The address was as follows: 

"Dear Professor: In the name of the pupils of the 
Baron de Hirsch Agricultural and Industrial School, 
we come here to extend our greetings to you on the 
39th anniversary of your birthday. We take this 
opportunity to express some of our sentiments toward 



BUILDING THE COLONY 73 

you as a man, and as the superintendent of the school. 
The interest that you have taken in the promotion of 
agriculture among our co-religionists, both by the 
establishment of colonies and this institution, is deserv- 
ing of praise more than we can express as young men 
blindly seeking an occupation v^herewith they may pro- 
vide themselves the ability to encounter this stern 
world. We have been accidentally or otherwise brought 
in contact with this noble and your dearly-cherished 
institution. Our ideals of the future were vague, our 
prospects wore the appearance of shadows, but as time 
wore on, as days, weeks and months were passing, the 
bright star of our future slowly but surely began to 
peer out from behind its cloudy shroud. From day to 
day your earnestness and good-will, honesty of purpose 
and goodness of heart became more convincing; our 
attachment to you grew stronger and stronger, un- 
til now, although we have had but a taste of the delica- 
cies that you have in store for us, the bonds thus created 
are inseparable. Like a tender father have you led us 
by the hand, taught us to love the beauties of which 
we had had no conception. Agriculture is the noblest 
pursuit of man, where everyone earns his bread by 
the sweat of his brow ; an occupation that has triumphed 
the world over, and its existence we find now the 
only one that will save our race from the plague and 
misery that it is bound to endure in the overcrowded 
cities. It was with tears of sorrow that we have for- 
saken the unwholesome temptations of our ghettos, 
but it is with tears of joy and pride that we come 
before you to announce that you have triumphed and 
we are converted. Lead us and we will follow you; 
be our counsellor, we pray, and we will be your dis- 
ciples! In us, Sir, be sure you have reached the sum- 



74 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

mit of your ambition! To you, Sir, we pledge our 
faith ard of our confidence allow not yourself to 
doubt! 

"Agriculture, farming, country-life, peace of mind 
and soul is the clamor of our brethren, bitterly groan- 
ing under their yoke of semi-slavery. In farming they 
have hoped to find reconciliation with their sufferings 
as exiles, but in spite of their numerous attempts and 
earnest efforts, they have failed again and again. Little 
did they know the cause of the failure or of the meth- 
ods employed or knowledge required at the present 
day for successful farming. With lack of knowledge 
came lack of confidence and finally discouragement. 
With your keen insight into life, your love for your 
brethren and phenomenal foresight, you have con- 
ceived an idea that but few could have done — the 
instilling into the young generation love for what is 
noble and good, for farming life in its most attractive 
aspect. To establish a thorough acquaintance with 
nature was your bright thought. To train the bud, 
while yet in its early stage of development, to assume 
the gorgeous perfection with which nature alone can 
bountifully endow it. With clear perception you have 
resolved to lay the foundation of agricultural life 
among the Jews. The vigorous, healthy and enter- 
prising young men of the race are flexible, impression- 
able, delighting in beauty and appreciating the won- 
ders of nature. They will bear witness to the wisdom 
of the grand structure of which you have laid the foun- 
dation. In them you are laying up a store of fame 
for yourself that in time shall know no bound. May 
the Almighty grant that you may live to see the result 
of your beautiful teachings! May your days be pro- 
longed to enjoy the credit reflected upon you by your 







(V 



bo 






BUILDING THE COLONY 75 

present pupils! May you live to realize the blessing 
and honor that your nation will justly bestow upon 
you! May your days be as a collection of jewels 
scattered in your pathway, reflecting the bright joys 
and happinesses of your kind deeds! May the bread 
of helpfulness cast by you upon the waters come back 
to you in the form of blessing and gratitude from 
those nearest you now and those who will follow them ! 
"That all the anniversaries of the day of your birth 
may be golden mile-stones upon a smooth highway of 
life is the earnest wish of 

"Your Boys." 

How pleasant those parties were ! I might fill page 
after page with descriptions of the splendid times the 
young people had in Woodbine, owing to my hus- 
band's untiring efforts to promote the social spirit. 
He never thoroughly enjoyed an evening unless Wood- 
bine colonists were with him to enjoy it also; and, on 
the other hand, a jollification of any sort at the home 
of a farmer was no jollification unless Professor Sab- 
sovich was there to grace it, and he never disappointed 
them unless it was unavoidable. 

As Woodbine was located only three and one-half 
miles from Dennisville, my husband was eager to make 
friends with the people there, and to bring the immi- 
grants, in every way possible, under the good influence 
of our American neighbors. To make the Jewish set- 
tlers as good farmers and as good citizens as their 
native neighbors was his dream. Among our men, 
many who came from the poorest districts of Galicia 



7(i ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

and Poland were very abject and uncouth. The Amer- 
ican villagers, most of them seeing Russian immigrants 
for the first time, were not favorably impressed. They 
judged the immigrant by his appearance, which, to tell 
the truth, was far from attractive, especially when we 
remember that, like all pioneers, his first winter was 
spent in a cold barn, without accommodations for a 
good wash, let alone a bath. But my husband worked 
constantly for a better understanding with the 
Americans. 

November 5, 1892, my husband wrote to the rep- 
resentative of the farmers in the New York office: 

"Yesterday was the first manifestation of Wood- 
bine's political life, and it made a great impression on 
our American neighbors. We had a fine torch-light 
parade. Mr. Y. tried to buy votes, but Til see to it 
that Woodbine is free of the blame of being corrupted." 



CHAPTER X 

THE FIRST PROBLEMS 

'np^HE Woodbine settlers came into daily contact 
with the Dennisville people, as the village was the 
supply-station for the everyday needs of our colonists. 
All that Woodbine had at the time was one very small 
grocery store. The occasion of the first clash with 
our American neighbors was the refusal of the Dennis- 
ville barber to cut the hair of a young man, an engineer 
in one of the factories, who had lived in the country 
for several years and was quite Americanized. The 
barber's explanation was a threatened boycott by his 

clientele if he served the Jews. 

Very angry, the young man came straight from the 
barber to my husband's office, and told him of the 
incident. My husband was just as indignant as he. 
Mr. Rice, a fine old gentleman, much respected in 
the village, was sent for. He had surveyed the Wood- 
bine lands and procured much work for the Dennis- 
ville people, so that their pay-envelopes grew bigger 
and bigger each week through their connection with 
the Woodbine Land Improvement Company. My hus- 
band told him that he would be forced to discharge 



7^ ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

•all the Dennisville men we employed, unless they 
learned to treat our people more tolerantly. 

Although the boycott was taken off at once and 
a number of the most representative members of the 
Dennisville community came over and apologized, my 
husband and the settlers had had their pride so deeply 
hurt that they knew they would never go back to that 
shop. When one of the settlers, who had been a bar- 
ber in Russia, Mr. Shapiro, volunteered to open a shop 
of his own they caught at the opportunity. The right 
inducement was offered him, and in a few days the 
first barber shop was opened in Woodbine. 

The Post Office had been established in the center 
of the village. The first Postmaster, a native Ameri- 
can, was always complaining of the curious way in 
which the settlers would seal their letters, with stamps 
on the reverse side of the envelope. To his great dis- 
gust and annoyance the letters received from Europe 
would also be sealed in the same way. He asked my 
husband once: 

**Why does the Jew put his stamps on the flap of 
the envelope ?" The answer my husband gave seemed 
to satisfy him. 

"In Russia," he explained, "the post ofifice clerks 
often tamper with and open letters coming through 
their hands, and to prevent this the stamp is put on 
the letter as a seal." 

Many customs of the Jews seemed peculiar to the 
native, especially the demonstrative and affectionate 



THE FIRST PROBLEMS 79 

partings. On Saturday morning, the day of rest, when 
the train left, the station would be black with young 
and old. There was great curiosity to see people go 
and come, and to witness affectionate embraces, often 
accompanied by tears, before departure. No wonder, 
then, that once, when I was seated in the train, a lady 
approached me and asked me whether all the people 
who were bidding such affectionate good-byes were 
leaving for the "other side," never to return? Her 
amazement was great when I told her that to my knowl- 
edge most of them were coming back on the same 
train that evening; though some might not return for 
a few days! 

There were, by this time, a great many children of 
school age amongst us. An old two-story house on 
the south side of the railroad was equipped with all 

the necessary school furnishings, and Miss H , 

a native of Dennisville, was engaged as teacher. So 
the first Woodbine pubHc school came into being. 
A night school was opened in connection with it, to 
teach the older folks English, the bookkeeper in the 
office becoming the first instructor. 

The first public school teacher had rather a hard 
time of it, as a number of the pupils were immigrants, 
newly arrived, and teacher and children spoke differ- 
ent languages. We might have engaged a teacher of 
Russian descent, with the result of enabling teacher 
and pupils to understand one another's speech, and 
simplify the work. But so earnest was my husband's 



80 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

desire to Americanize the youth of Woodbine and to 
inculcate in them the true American spirit, that only 
one whose forefathers were natives would satisfy him. 
Slowly, but surely the work of the American-born 
teacher took root in the minds and hearts of the little 
ones, who had their eyes and ears wide open to every 
new impression. 

The Christmas holidays of 1892 approached. A few 
Christian families lived in Woodbine and coming in 
contact daily with them and the people of the surround- 
ing villages, the Jewish children could not but be 
aroused to a holiday spirit as well. We had about 
seventy-five school-children at the time, for, besides 
the farmers* little ones, there were the children of the 
Jewish factory employees. It happened that Chanuka, 
the Feast of Lights, fell that year within Christ- 
mas week. So, to give our own school-children, too, a 
chance to enjoy a happy holiday, my husband asked 
our Committee to give a certain sum of money to 
cover the cost of the festivities. The Committee cheer- 
fully agreed, and with one hundred dollars in my 
pocketbook, I went to Philadelphia and bought for 
each child a top, a book and a box of candy, as well 
as fruit and soft drinks for the older folks. So we 
prepared a simple entertainment. The factory was 
again turned into a jollification place, and the first 
public school entertainment by and for Woodbine 
school-children took place. 

During the evening two of the employees in the 



THE FIRST PROBLEMS 81 

office of the factory came up to me as the manager of 
the affair, and asked if they might contribute their 
bit to the entertainment. They were comedians, they 
said. Their *'bit" was the great hit of the evening, 
and no wonder, for a few years later they appeared as 
headhners on Broadway with "Weber and Fields." 

Early one morning the next Spring, on the first 
day of Pesach, my husband happened to go up to the 
railroad station, and while there he was handed a tele- 
gram. I saw him stagger and turn ashen white as he 
read it. 

"What's ithe trouble? What -has happened?" I 
asked. 

He handed me the telegram. It said: 

"Your integrity at stake. Come to New York as 
soon as you can. 

"Julius Goldman." 

•T am going by the next train," he said, recovering 
himself a little. And two hours later he left for 
New York in an intensely agitated state of mind. On 
the following day, when he returned, he told me the 
story. 

A certain person, connected with the New York 
office of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, jealous of my 
husband's good work in Woodbine, and of his excel- 
lent standing with the Committee and the people, be- 
gan by insinuation, dropping a word now and then, to 
try to arouse suspicion in the minds of the Committee, 



82 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

that something was wrong with the method in which 
my husband kept the books and handled the money. 

By this time about $300,000 had passed through his 
hands. For a long time, in his zeal to economize, he 
had had no bookkeeper at all. Considering, therefore, 
the amount of construction work that had been going 
on in Woodbine for the farmers and the town, the long 
hours spent in work, and the fact that he was not a 
trained bookkeeper himself, it would have been re- 
markable, nay, miraculous if mistakes had not oc- 
curred. But whenever, in his monthly reports, the 
accounts did not agree, he had always made good out 
of his own salary. 

To put an end to this malicious rumor, my husband 
asked Dr. Goldman to send an expert auditor to Wood- 
bine, and in a few weeks Mr. A. S. Solomons came 
down. He was the general agent of the Fund at that 
time. It may be mentioned here that Mr. Solomons 
was one of the founders, with Miss Clara Barton, of 
the American Red Cross, September 1, 1882, at Wash- 
ington, D. C, and was conspicuously instrumental in 
organizing this greatest of humanitarian bodies along 
lines of practical effectiveness. 

He worked five days over the books, checking up 
minutely every voucher, and, at the end of the week, 
telegraphed the President of the Committee that the 
books were in splendid shape, and that the Committee 
might be congratulated on having Prof. Sabsovich's 
sterling abilities at .their command. 



THE FIRST PROBLEMS 83 

The man responsible for the rumors was requested 
to resign and that severed his connection with the Fund 
forever. 

Dr. Goldman hastened to assure my husband that 
his honesty had never been doubted for an instant by 
him, but that there had been in existence a persistent 
undercurrent of complaint that the books were not 
being properly kept, and he wished to silence it at 
once and for all. A letter of my husband's, written to 
Ur. Goldman at that time reads as follows: 

'T shall be glad to get rid of all accounts, book- 
keeping, etc. It wearies me more than any of the work 
outdoors. When the work in the fields starts, and 
everything goes smoothly, as I hope it will, you'll not 
recognize me. Good spirits and hope for the success 
of our undertaking will do me far more good than 
any amount of caring for my physical health ever will." 
(Dr. Goldman had expressed his anxiety about the 
state of my husband's health.) 

Of the good friends made among his colleagues 
while on the staff of the Fort Collins Agricultural 
College, he had corresponded regularly with one who, 
by 1892, had become Director of the Lincoln Agri- 
cultural College in Nebraska. Prof. Ingersoll had 
heard of the great hardships my husband had been 
enduring in furthering to his utmost the welfare of 
the new colony, and he wrote to summon him to 
Nebraska to work at Lincoln. Here is the letter my 
husband wrote to Prof. Ingersoll in answer to the 
invitation: 



84 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

"Dear Friend: 

"Your valuable and friendly letter of Nov. 28th is 
at hand. I appreciate your warm feeling toward me 
and your splendid offer. The troubles I have had 
with my co-workers were settled in the spring. Now 
I am directly responsible to the Directors of our Fund. 

"The results of the first agricultural season are more 
favorable than I had expected, considering all the dif- 
ficulties we had to overcome. You know from my 
previous letters that our place is adapted to fruit grow- 
ing and market gardening. Out of sixty orchards 
planted, only in a half-dozen Is the percentage of dead 
trees about five per cent. With small fruits we have 
had the same result. While raising fruit, we have 
also been successful with watermelon culture, early 
potatoes, sweet potatoes and cucumbers. It seems our 
soil and climate are well adapted to growing these 
vegetables. On account of the late planting, and the 
fact that I did not have a chance to prepare the land 
right, I was not successful in raising strawberries. . . . 

"Concerning the industries, the Fund has built two 
factories, which employ 180 hands and are able to 
employ 100 more. As the farming population cannot 
supply enough hands for the factories, the Fund has 
built 22 nice cottages, costing $1000 to $1500 each, and 
a pleasant hotel, heated by steam and lighted by elec- 
tricity. 

"I have graded four miles of farm roads 25 feet 
wide, and over two miles of streets and avenues in 
town, 66 to 100 feet wide. 67 farms are under cul- 
tivation ; that is, about 700 acres. 200 acres are cleared 
in town and 100 acres of roads. By increasing the 
number of factories we expect to increase the town 



THE FIRST PROBLEMS 85 

population, and in this way to create a local market 
for the farm surplus. 

"Our educational facilities are yet small, but we have 
opened two temporary schools with an attendance of 
100 children and also a night school for adults with 
25 to 30 in attendance. I and my new co-worker, 
Arthur Reichow, are trying to induce the Fund to 
build a central education institution, where manual 
training and improved scientific and agricultural 
studies will be connected with public education; that 
is, to create a Teople's University.' This would be 
practicable, since the State will be willing to bear one- 
half of the expense in starting and supporting such 
an institution. The State of New Jersey is very liberal 
in this direction. I am only sorry that the people do 
not all make use, as yet, of the liberal support offered 
to them by their State. You see, my friend, what a 
really wonderful field for splendid work there is here 
for me in every line, every direction. But in case my 
work is not appreciated, as it often happens that sin- 
cere and earnest workers do not succeed in accomplish- 
ing wha.t is so dear to them, and if I am compelled to 
seek another field of activity, I shall look forward to 
working with you. But I would then, and only then, 
consider your kind offer. 

"Yours, 

"H. L. Sabsovich."" 

Very soon after, in February, 1893, my husband, the 
idea seeming to have taken hold of him, wrote on 
the subject of the "People's University" to Judge 
Meyer Isaacs, then President of the Fund. 



86 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

"My Dear Judge: 

*1 am so glad that you are considering an Industrial 
and agricultural school In connection with the public 
school. If I am not mistaken, Woodbine would be 
the first place in this State where public education 
would be carried on upon such an improved basis. 
From the lowest grades up our children will be taught 
to become useful and self-supporting members of the 
community. An agricultural education is the more 
necessary for them, who have not the inherited senti- 
ments of the farmer's son, which often saves him for 
the rural life. We have to implant an industrial and 
agricultural spirit in our children, and this will take 
from our race some of the blame we are subjected to 
in the world. Many western agricultural colleges 
have introduced a system of paying five to ten cents 
an hour for work in the fields or in the shop, in order 
to enable the boys and girls to earn a little money, and 
thus partly lift the burden from the parents* shoulders 
during their schooling. If we introduce such a system 
into our schools, we shall save our girls of thirteen and 
fourteen years of age from the factories, inasmuch 
as they will earn $1.50 to $2.50 a week, an amount 
large enough to pay their parents for their board. 
Especially in field and garden work we may expect 
some returns." 

A few months later he wrote to Dr. Julius Goldman 
on the same subject, and, among other things, says: 

"Farming is becoming an art and a science, and I 
do not doubt that our government will soon see that 
secondary schools should have agricultural and in- 
dustrial departments." 



THE FIRST PROBLEMS ^7 

In another letter he writes: 

"I have received a copy of a Trenton paper (the 
Daily State Gazette) which I send you by this mail. 
You will find there the article: *The Farmers in Ses- 
sion/ and you will see the one point I am after, and 
which I have been advocating lately: teaching agri- 
culture in public schools — is earnestly discussed." 

He was ever reluctant to engage any personal friend 
to work in Woodbine, fearing misunderstandings and 
the breaking of friendship. One Summer day I hap- 
pened to be in New York and found that an old friend 
of ours who had been a high school teacher on the 
other side, was in New York with his family. I went 
at once to see them and found them in terrible straits, 
all their money nearly gone, the friend's eyesight badly 
affected, and he in poor health. His health would 
be assured, I was told, if he could work in the country 
somewhere. I returned next day to Woodbine, and 
told my husband of the meeting. 

"Why," he said, *T am in a position to help him at 
once, as I am badly in need of a teacher of mathe- 
matics." This was exactly the position he had occupied 
in the high school on the other side. My husband 
wrote to him to come, which he did. For about two 
years he was a teacher in the loft above the barn, 
which had been turned into the Agricultural School. 

One day he told my husband that he was eager to 
go back to the old country, but that he did not have 
any savings. He asked my husband to keep him on 



88 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

the payroll for two or three months after he left, to 
tide him over. This was flatly refused. My husband 
said that under no circumstances would he do a thing 
like that. Not only did the friendship break, but the 
man, at a banquet tendered him by his New York 
friends on the occasion of his departure, villified my 
husband. Our dear friend Kaplan, who attended the 
banquet, arose and told the guests that he knew the 
merits of the case better, and would not allow a man's 
name to be slandered who was blameless, especially 
when not there to defend himself. 

And this was only one of numerous cases where 
sincere devotion to inborn high standards in work was 
his unfailing guide, even at the risk of jeopardizing 
life-long friendships. 



CHAPTER XI 

UNREST AMONG THE COLONISTS 

T>UT a serious trouble, not destined to be so lightly 
^ met and settled, was brewing for my husband. 
Under the leadership of a person whose main joy in 
life was meddling, the farmers conferred and decided 
they would not pay the interest due the Fund, although, 
•when applying for farming land, each of them had 
signed a paper agreeing, in ten years* time, to return 
every cent loaned him, with interest. The conditions 
had been made very clear to them — every angle of 
the transaction having been explained. 

When my husband was confronted with this refusal 
of the farmers to pay the amount due, he was exceed- 
ingly indignant. He was unable to view the matter 
from their viewpoint at all. Being a man always 
ready to give, but reluctant to take, he tried to show 
them that their stand in the matter revealed a lack of 
pride and dignity. He told them he could not con- 
ceive how they could wish to obtain something for 
nothing ; especially as it had been a clear business deal 
between the Fund and the farmer from the beginning. 
The well-defined position of Baron de Hirsch, who 
donated the money, and the Committee administering 

89 



90 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

it, had been from the start that of loaning means for 
every applicant to make a beginning as a farmer. He 
recalled to the men the point of honor made by the 
very first Jews arriving in the American Colonies, 
when they vowed never to allow any one of their num- 
ber to become a public charge, never to accept charity. 

My husband told them that he had too much re- 
spect for Jews to think of the colonists assuming, at 
that late day, any other position. It hurt him, he 
explained, that the men he had always fought for so 
consistently, should have assumed this strange attitude. 
He always had felt especially happy when he had been 
able to convince the Committee on other occasions that 
the farmers were in the right, for he had been thor- 
oughly in sympathy with them and their families in 
the time when they were undergoing hardships in their 
pioneer life in Woodbine, and he begged them to con- 
sider the matter in the true and righteous light of 
honest men. 

Anxious to act, as always, as clear-headed mediator 
in his trying position, he had written to Dr. Goldman 
under date of March 1, 1893, before the trouble over 
interest payments. 

"I strongly advocate more help for the farmers. I 
would suggest that we advance them $100 each to 
plow and harrow the land; for, though they earned 
good money during the first year of Woodbine's exist- 
ence, still, considering that everyone had to build a 
new home, and besides that, send a considerable amount 



UNREST AMONG THE COLONISTS 91 

of money to Russia to bring their families over, and 
to invest some on their farms, it is easy to reaUze that 
of their earnings they could save nothing. By helping 
them to improve their farms we shall the sooner free 
them from our wardship. After all, they are our 
wards !" 

But, in their refusal to pay their interest to the 
Fund my husband could not and would not take sides 
with them, and a hard struggle began. 

In the simpHcity of character which was his, he 
could show strength when it was demanded. He knew 
that he stood for the right and that it would prevail 
in the end. He felt that the farmers were, for the time 
being, blinded to the truth. 

The fight thus begun lasted over a year. The 
farmers demanded the deeds for their lands, which 
they had refused to pay for, making the claim that 
Baron de Hirsch had intended the farms as gifts, 
not loans. (Baron de Hirsch had died shortly before 
the dispute began. ) 

My husband tried to make the farmers understand 
that their plan would take the form of charity dis- 
pensed to them, but they could not see it in that way. 
The meddler, before mentioned, who had originally 
come to Woodbine as a worker in the pay of the Com- 
mittee, began to play on their lower instincts. His 
scheming, like that of all his kind, was underhanded 
and trouble soon developed of an alarming nature. The 
farmers stopped working their land, and meeting se- 



92 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

cretly day and night and conspiring, threatened to kill 
my husband and burn his home. They ceased to greet 
him civilly, or even speak to him unless business ne- 
cessitated and compelled them to go to his office. 
Young and old showed the greatest animosity, and 
although they did not know the meaning of the word 
**boycott," that was, in fact, what it amounted to. 

In explanation my husband wrote to Mr. Reichow, 
regarding this phase of the struggle: 

"I am just sick at heart ! It is easy for you in New 
York to philosophize ; but here I am, face to face with 
indignities, insults, sour remarks. These last two days 
here I can never forget. I tremble all over — I cannot 
think — my mind is in a whirl. I have had more ex- 
citement than I can endure." 

A few days later he again wrote: 

"What reasonable human good can you expect from 
people who are risking their own welfare and that of 
their families simply because someone has told them 
that the leases are no good? They want to see the 
Committee ; especially Mr. Jacob Schiff and Mr. Jesse 
Seligman, in whom they say they 'have the utmost con- 
fidence.' The most reasonable demand the farmers 
make is that the time be extended from fifteen to 
twenty-four years, with no interest whatsoever. I can 
see where the extension of time might be granted. I 
often wonder whether they are children or fools, or 
both together?" 

In another letter, to Mr. Reichow, he says: 

"A reporter sent by Mr. Goodale has come on be- 



UNREST AMONG THE COLONISTS 93 

half of the farmers. It seems to me this reporter 
does not care to find out the truth; he only wants to 
arouse public opinion favorable to the agitating farm- 
ers. I know that their case will be lost when brought 
before a court (and to keep out of court is the 
farmers' aim) ; but I see disaster for Woodbine if 
legal proceedings are not taken up." 

In a letter to Dr. Goldman, he says: 

"We must take decided action. Soon the public 
will know the -truth — that the settlers want to become 
owners of the farms without paying for them." 

Ten days later he wrote Mr. Reichow: 

"I am trying to bury my feelings, trying to be calm, 
but it costs me my health. I feel so uneasy every time 
I have to leave Woodbine on business that I shall have 
heart failure. I begin to lose courage. I am afraid I 
am becoming quixotic. Threats are being made open- 
ly, and I am warned by several outsiders to be cau- 
tious. I do not pay much attention to these threats, 
but my family is very much worried about me. I 
would perhaps resign, but not until I see justice done, 
even if my life is in danger." 

To Mr. Jacob Schiff, April 18, he wrote: 

''My dear Mr. Schiff: 

*T thank you so much for your confidence and the 
support you give me in our just fight with the farmers 
here. Let us hope that daylight will soon break, 
peace and order be restored, and the quiet development 
of our community be uninterrupted." 



94 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

A few days later in a ten-page letter to Dr. Goldman, 
he said, among other things: 

"I have experienced another grave disappointment. 
I called a meeting of all the farmers in the factory, 
and showed them how ridiculous and unjust their 
demands are, how ruinous it will be to them to 
cling to their ring-leaders (and all the ring-leaders 
were present on the occasion). I came to them ready 
to forgive and forget all, eager only to create a golden 
bridge of reconciliation, bringing words of harmony. 
Instead of taking my advances in the true spirit, their 
ring-leaders explained my move as weakness. I am 
afraid now that only by exercising our rights to the 
full extent shall we move them from this demoralizing 
and misleading stand of theirs.*' 

The trouble-maker sent one article after another to 
the press, depicting my husband as the "man ruling 
Woodbine like the Czar of Russia." We all know that 
even the best of men have enemies who prick up their 
ears, ready to listen to the charges of a scandalmonger. 
My husband never replied to these attacks. He felt 
that he was above such slander. Several newspapers 
offered, for certain sums of money, to publish favor- 
able reports of him and of his work. He closed his 
door on their agents as an answer. 

My husband still labored in the interest of the 
farmers, having to deal with jealousies that arose not 
only among co-workers, as in the rumor of careless 
bookkeeping, but from other sources as well. The 
stubborn dissatisfaction of the farmers hurt him in- 



UNREST AMONG THE COLONISTS 95 

tensely, since he knew it was so ill-founded. From 
the day that he came to Woodbine he had always had 
to battle, sometimes on behalf of the farmers, some- 
times his own. But now, receiving one shock after 
another, the accumulation of anxieties seriously af- 
fected his health. The breakdown came very suddenly 
one night in December, 1893. 

We had been visiting dear friends in the village, 
and, on our way home, he collapsed suddenly in the 
street. Mrs. Lipman and I carried him to the nearest 
house. It was then midnight. We sent for a doctor, 
who, upon examining him, shook his head gravely. 
He was moved the next morning to his own home, 
where, for two months, he lay dangerously ill. As 
soon as he was able to leave his bed, the physician 
advised a sojourn in a warmer climate, for it was a 
very cold February. As he was simply convalescent, 
he could not safely travel alone, so his eldest daughter, 
Marie, went with him. She was not yet eight, but 
a most capable little woman and devoted nurse. They 
spent six weeks in Florida, where he recovered his 
strength. Returning, he felt quite himself again, as 
he resumed his work. 

The disputes and differences with the farmers had 
not been settled, and daily he had to meet and deal 
with them and to sense their unchanged animosity. 
Very soon, too, trouble started in the factory. He was 
always the arbitrator of disputes between employer 
and worker, and he put every effort into a settlement 



96 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

of the grievances of the working people, but aggra- 
vation followed upon aggravation, and at the end 
of May he had a relapse. His life, even, was des- 
paired of. 

For two long months there was a race between life • 
and death. Having always been a man of the most 
temperate habits, life for the second time won the 
race. In his convalescent period he went to a boarding 
house in the Catskills, kept by Mrs. Augusta Lenson, 
and she and her charming daughters gave him such 
wonderful care that the summer spent there wrought 
a miracle. He left us a bundle of bones scarcely cov- 
ered with flesh, and returned a man in the full flush 
of health. By the end of August he had gained thirty- 
five pounds. He began to broaden out, the hollows of 
his cheeks filled, and he looked the picture of health. 
How he changed after this severe illness may be illus- 
trated by this interesting incident. In 1889, our first 
year in New York, he had received a letter from a 
friend of his, a chemist in Odessa, asking him to find 
out the prices of certain chemicals. This made it 
necessary for him to go to the Stock Exchange. He 
never knew how he did it, but he reached a certain 
window inside the Exchange. In his broken speech 
he asked a few questions. The man at the window 
very angrily inquired how he had gained admittance. 
Not having the least idea that there was a sanctum 
sanctorum there, where not every mortal could be ad- 
mitted, he replied, simply: "Why, nobody stopped me!" 



UNREST AMONG THE COLONISTS 97 

Then the man looking at him more keenly, began to 
smile, and said: 

"No wonder ! You are the image of Jay Gould and 
our new doorkeeper must have taken you for him." 

But in later years, people, on seeing him, would often 
remark that they had never seen a more striking re- 
semblance to Gen. U. S. Grant. Never having seen 
either Jay Gould or Gen. Grant, he was greatly amused 
that at different periods of his life he had been thought 
to resemble, in feature, two men so widely different 
from each other and from himself. 

While my husband was staying in the Catskills with 
his oldest daughter, a fourth daughter was born to him. 
He was very fond of Dr. Julius Goldman, and had been 
hoping for a chance to name a son for him; but the 
boy disappointed him by turning out to be a girl. So 
the best we could do was to call her Julia. 

September, 1893, came, and still the farmers were 
obdurate. My husband tried to make them realize 
how ruinous their attitude was. They had not tilled 
their fields that Spring, and a whole year's crops were 
lost. He assured them that neither in a court of law, 
nor in a court of arbitration would their case ever stand 
a test, as it had no moral nor legal justification; but 
they were deaf to all remonstrance and dead to reason, 
and in November they entered a suit against the Baron 
de Hirsch Fund. The case was heard at the Cape May 
Court House — Dr. Goldman, Judge Isaacs and my 
husband representing the Fund. 



98 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

The judge before whom the case came for trial 
found no cause for action in the farmer's complaint. 
With but sHght consideration he dismissed the case, 
stating that there was not then nor ever had been any- 
moral nor legal ground for action. 

The farmers were apparently astounded at the 
prompt adverse decision. For a whole year the Com- 
mittee and my husband had been unable to induce the 
farmers to sense that which the court, in its official 
capacity, had caused them to realize in half an hour. 
When my husband left the courtroom, he found the 
farmers gathered in an indeterminate group, appar- 
ently too astonished to decide what to do next. It 
occurred to him that, having had so many things to 
do in Woodbine, he might have overlooked some just 
cause for dissatisfaction. 

So, with this thought in mind, he approached them. 
He ignored all past insults, all former animosity, and 
passing over what very few men would have done, 
invited them to his home with these words: 

"The law has decided against you, but bring me 
your old leases, and we will see if we cannot, in a 
mutual spirit of kindliness, do better than you alone 
could do in a state of anger." 

That night the farmers gathered at the house, and 
great was their amazement to find that the man whom 
they had tormented, whose home they had threatened 
to mob and burn, was as ready to concede their just 
claims, as of old. My husband had prevailed upon 



UNREST AMONG THE COLONISTS 99 

the Committee to make some important concessions in 
the leases, and when they were explained it was a dif- 
ferent group of farmers who left the house. 

"Now that we understand one another,'* said my 
husband, "we shall get along," and with renewed con- 
fidence on each side they parted. 

Never was there a happier man than my husband 
that night. The farmers' hearts were won back to him, 
and from that time there was no doubt in their minds 
that his heart was wholly theirs; that he cared for 
each, individually, and that in time of trouble they 
could be sure of receiving all the sympathy for which 
they had need. 

My husband was a man of vision and large dreams. 
He felt and knew that, with peace in sight, constructive 
work for Woodbine would begin again. Many plans 
for the good of the colonists were in his mind and 
one enterprise after another was suggested to the Fund 
Committee, as he knew that the public-spirited group 
of New York and Philadelphia men who made up the 
Baron de Hirsch Fund Committee was more than 
anxious to see the colonists prosper. 

A dispute presently arose between the manufacturers 
and the working people regarding the Sabbath rest. 
The manufacturers, for purely economic reasons, 
wanted Sunday as the day of rest. The working 
people, many of them orthodox Jews, insisted on Sat- 
urday as their Sabbath. My husband was not ortho- 
dox himself. To the services of the synagogue he 



100 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

had never been drawn, because it was for him only a 
splendid tradition. His religion was the brotherhood 
of man. But he dearly sensed the viewpoint of the 
people and brought all his influence to bear to obtain 
a ruling that in the colony whistles should not call 
the people to work on the sixth day of the week. And 
to this day Saturday is the day of rest in Woodbine. 



CHAPTER XII 



ADDED INDUSTRIES 



TV yfORE factories were erected; more houses sprang 
-*--*• up in the Httle village. The first needle factory 
changed hands several times until Mr. Rabinovich took 
charge of it. Twenty-four years before he had come 
out as the manager of the largest factory, and is to-day 
the owner of the largest plant in Woodbine. During 
the World War as many as eight hundred people were 
engaged in his clothing factory, making war supplies. 
Needless to say that, coming to Woodbine a very poor 
man, he is to-day very rich. 

A machine plant was also started by Morris L. 
Bayard, who, as a poor laborer, at first dug the wells 
and set the pumps for the Woodbine farms and town 
homes. He had then only a small supply shop, a 
shanty eight feet by ten, but through the years he has 
become the most prosperous man, not only in Wood- 
bine, but in the whole county. He was always keenly 
alive to every opportunity, and my husband often re- 
marked that it was a pleasure to help a man like that. 

"Give him one push," he would often say when other 
mechanics thought he was partial to Bayard in award- 
ing contracts, '*and he flies so far that it is hard to 
catch him." 

101 



102 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

A tool factory was opened, a basket factory — which 
lasted only a few years — a knitting mill and a hat fac- 
tory. Some of these concerns are working there to- 
day ; some have changed hands and removed. 

Several dozen five-room houses were built around 
them and the ensemble made up the industrial center 
of Woodbine. The Baron de Hirsch Fund built the 
houses, gave them to the tenants on a first mortgage, 
and by paying eight dollars a month each man be- 
came, in eight or ten years, the owner of his little 
dwelling. Remembering that these people had come 
from either the pale of settlement in Russia, where 
they had existed in utter poverty; or from the slums 
of New York or Philadelphia, where a whole grown 
family would be crowded into two or three rooms, it 
may be imagined that this bright, cheerful, sunny, 
little house, set on a large plot of ground, appeared 
to them a veritable paradise. 

My husband's interest in the workingmen's cause 
brought him into difficulties. The manufacturers 
said that, owing to his "interference," the working- 
men were leaving them. In answer to this charge, 
he wrote: 

"You know, my dear Mr. Reichow, as well as I 
do, that it is the higher wages that workingmen earn 
in other places; that, and only that causes the migra- 
tion of the employee — not Sabsovich." 

The economic depression of 1893 affected the cloak 
industry unfavorably and the decreased demand led 



ADDED INDUSTRIES 103 

to a partial suspension of work in the Woodbine fac- 
tory. The discontent among the workers and the 
strikes that followed caused the plant to shut down 
entirely. Many farmers left, unable to earn a living 
either from their land or in the factory. Those who 
remained were given work cutting wood, pulling 
stumps or clearing the town land to make streets. 
Some picked huckleberries and some worked in the 
canning factory nearby. In pursuing this course my 
husband anticipated a method of dealing with the prob- 
lem of unemployment, which has since been widely dis- 
cussed, but only here and there put into action. 

By 1894-95, however, the outlook became brighter 
with the opening of another factory. After that a few 
other plants were established and the little place steadily 
grew in population. 



CHAPTER XIII 

STRENGTHENING THE NEW ALLEGIANCE 

THE little village at this period presented a very 
pretty appearance. The streets were lined with 
two rows of poplars, which had grown so richly that in 
Summer they afforded perfect shade. Grass-plots 
bordering the sidewalks added to the fresh beauty and 
repose of the scene. In fact, Woodbine then became 
really a large park. It was, however, much more 
than simply ornamental. It had grown into a good- 
sized village, several new stores — grocery, drygoods, 
shoe and hardware — ^having recently been opened. 

But, attractive as the village was, my husband had 
plans to improve it still further. He was invited to 
address one of the Saturday afternoon women's meet- 
ings, and, amongst other plans, announced on that oc- 
casion his intention of offering prizes for the cleanest 
and best-looking house fronts and yards; remarking 
that he was ready to supply free all the plants and 
flowers any dweller wished to use. That set the ball 
rolling. Each family tried to outdo the other in mak- 
ing the prettiest showing, and the result more than 
justified his hopes. From that season on, Woodbine 

104 




U 
biO 

c 

o 
O 



THE NEW ALLEGIANCE 105 

has each successive Summer resolved into a veritable 
flower-garden of beauty and fragrance. 

In 1892 the first schoolhouse was built at one end 
of the farm settlement. Two years later the need for 
another arose, and this was erected at the opposite end 
of the town. Several years later still another school 
was built in the center of the village itself. A kinder- 
garten, the very first to open in Cape May County — 
settled for over two hundred years — was started and 
conducted by a very intelligent, wide-awake girl, whose 
work was quickly appreciated by the parents of the 
children. Only teachers of the highest standing avail- 
able were considered for the school service, and with 
its splendid group of instructors and bright, ambitious 
pupils. Woodbine soon had reason to be proud of the 
showing at the county commencement, where the girls 
and boys received the official meed of highest merit. 
With such activities as public lectures and frequent en- 
tertainments of an intellectual character, Woodbine 
rapidly became the center of the county's mental 
activity. 

My husband was an enthusiast for Americanization, 
as he fully appreciated the difference between the in- 
stitutions and conditions our colonists lived — or, 
rather, suffered under — in the places they came from 
abroad, and the conditions and institutions they were 
fortunate enough to enjoy in this country. Not an 
Independence Day, or a Washington's or Lincoln's 
Birthday passed unnoticed. In fact, the utmost care 



106 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

was taken to have the best speakers from New York 
and Philadelphia as guests for these occasions. The 
school teachers would prepare an ambitious school en- 
tertainment and the significance of the day was touched 
upon from every possible angle. The celebration would 
begin in the morning at the schoolhouse and end at 
night in the big hall, with speeches and dancing. 

Educational work in Woodbine was so active that 
my husband could not bear to have anything interfere 
with its progress. On one occasion, August, 1904, he 
wrote this letter to the School Board of Dennis Town- 
ship: 

'^SiRs: 

"The new district law has deprived us of home rule. 
For us in Woodbine educational facilities are of a very 
vital character. The conduct of educational matters in 
Woodbine is carried on by a Board consisting of the 
trustees of two school districts, the teachers and myself. 
Often the parents are called in to aid the board and 
teacher in improving the behavior, manners or general 
appearance of the children. The board tries to interest 
the parents in school matters; tries to bring forward 
the spirit of American principles and inculcate Ameri- 
can patriotism through the children into the homes. 

"This explains why we felt alarmed when we learned 
about the new Townships School Act, passed by our 
legislators in the interest of the Republican principles 
of concentration of power to the detriment of Demo- 
cratic principles of home rule. Therefore we welcome 
your apparent desire to help us to return to home rule 
in Woodbine school management." 



THE NEW ALLEGIANCE 107 

He also said in this letter: 

"Manual training and physical culture in the public 
schools should be the first step toward developing a 
sound mind in a sound body." 

This will show that his ideas on education were 
several decades ahead of time. 

While on the subject of the public schools of Wood- 
bine I must not neglect to relate what happened in 
connection with the large Central School, the fourth 
one built. For a few years my husband had felt that 
Woodbine was large enough to have a graded school, 
also a high school in the center of the village. By this 
time we had a number of boys and girls, graduated 
from public school, attending Millville High School, 
twenty-five miles away. This bi-daily trip was quite 
a strain upon the students, and my husband felt it 
should be spared them. There were, besides, other 
children rapidly growing up to high school age. The 
township, he knew, would share the cost of the building 
and upkeep of such a school ; but it would mean a some- 
what heavier taxation for the Woodbine people. The 
same troublemaker who had figured in the farmers' 
strike began to prejudice the people against such a 
project, bringing forward the argument that this would 
mean a financial burden for them in extra taxation. 
The appropriation of funds for the building of this 
educational center and high school would have, of 
course, to be voted upon by the citizens of Woodbine. 



108 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

My husband was so thoroughly convinced of the great 
need for such a school that, to make sure that it would 
not be outvoted by the hostile forces — working In the 
dark and led by the nian who never played fair — ^he 
called all the women to be present at a meeting. (In 
New Jersey, women had the right to vote on school 
appropriations — partial suffrage.) He explained the 
situation to them, and when the day for voting the 
school appropriations came, not a woman remained at 
home, and the resolution for the building of the Central 
School was carried by an overwhelming majority. 

In 1903 the school was built and it is not only the 
pride of Woodbine, but of the county, the people of 
which send many a boy and girl to it. Woodbine High 
School was the stepping-stone of many ambitious 
young folks to a fundamental education and a larger 
life. All those who had been misled to vote against 
the appropriation for the school realized their mistake 
in the years that followed, and felt abashed when they 
came to witness the graduation of their own offspring 
and sensed the splendid results achieved by them. 

Two years after the school was built the School 
Board felt that a fence which might cost about $400 or 
$500 was needed for it. My husband called a meeting 
of all the Woodbine settlers and laid the plan before 
them. It was decided that an entertainment in the 
large hall of the Central High School would be an 
effective way of raising the funds. Though some 
people thought that Woodbine could not raise more 




o 
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THE NEW ALLEGIANCE 109 

than a hundred dollars, they lost out in their surmise, 
for the full amount was collected, and never did I see 
a more enthusiastic gathering, nor one more ready to 
spend freely. 

The dedication of the Central High School took 
place on Columbus Day, 1905. About five hundred 
children gathered in the assembly room, entering four 
by four, headed by their teachers, where they partici- 
pated in a program of patriotic exercises. The build- 
ing, which was crowded with people, inside and out, 
was decorated with American flags. 

The program started with the "Star-Spangled 
Banner," followed by "The Flag of the Free." Patri- 
otic speeches were delivered by some of the specially 
invited guests and by my husband, who always reached 
the hearts of young and old quickly with sincere and 
earnest words. Mr. A. S. Solomons, who graced every 
grand occasion in Woodbine, and in whom American- 
ization of the immigrant boys and girls had a staunch 
supporter, presided at the exercises. Old Glory was 
unfurled, and as it floated over the beautiful white 
head of this venerable man, he raised his hand and the 
five hundred children, looking straight at him, recited 
clearly and strongly: 

"Flag of our great republic! Inspirer of battle! 
Guardian of our homes I Whose stars and stripes stand 
for truth, bravery, purity and union, we salute thee! 
We, the children of distant lands, who find rest beneath 
thy folds, do pledge ourselves, our hearts, our sacred 



no ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

honor, to love and protect thee, our country and the 
hberty of the American people forever V 

The enthusiasm of the people assembled knew no 
bounds and the w^alls rang with cheers. 

My husband was imbued with a truly democratic 
spirit. He met everyone on a footing of equality, with 
the simplicity of a truly good nature unburdened by 
conventional prejudices. One of the yearly Teachers' 
Institutes was held in Woodbine. Among the assem- 
bled teachers was a colored woman. During the session 
she read an extremely interesting paper on education, 
and had taken an active part in the discussion that fol- 
lowed. My husband acted as host. He invited the 
association to meet in Woodbine, and, as a special cour- 
tesy, ordered a dinner at the hotel and summoned them 
all. When the guests had been seated, himself at the 
head of the table with the president of the association, 
a Southerner, at his right hand, he noticed that the col- 
ored teacher was not with them. Leaving his place, he 
went in search of her, and came upon her in one of 
the adjoining rooms opening a dinner-basket. In 
answer to his inquiry why she had not availed herself 
of his invitation to dinner, she said that, as a colored 
woman, she thought she was not included. He imme- 
diately escorted her to the table and placed her beside 
himself, on the left. He remained quite indifferent to 
the storm of criticism evoked from the President and a 
few others who entertained the same prejudices. 



CHAPTER XIV 

BRINGING SCIENCE TO THE FARMERS 

TF my husband was interested in public schools and 
"^ in the subject of general education in Woodbine, 
he was even more deeply devoted to the task of pro- 
viding agricultural training for the young sons of the 
farmers, and so teaching them to grow up good farm- 
ers themselves. From the very first he had felt that 
the success of the colony would depend upon the theo- 
retical instruction, as well as the practical guidance 
that the farmers would get. The latter they must have, 
of course. They would be shown how to do things. 
But, as he was well aware, the Jewish mind is ever 
busy with the "why and wherefore" of moves and 
actions. If his queries cannot be convincingly an- 
swered, his interest cannot be firmly held. 

Here was a group of ex-tailors, ex-shoemakers, ex- 
peddlers and ex-sewing-machine operators. Their 
minds had developed along certain lines of skill and 
shrewdness; and if these men were to become good 
farmers, their minds must be nourished and satisfied 
while their unused muscles were being trained. Each 
man must be made to understand why it was good to 
be a farmer, apart from mere self-interest, wherein 

111 



112 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

work with the soil Is satisfying; and hozv a man can 
overcome the handicaps and trials Nature imposes on 
him on the road to successful husbandry. The native 
farmer, whose family has lived on the land for many 
generations, has grown up with this knowledge. The 
love of the soil is in his veins, and that is what makes 
him keep to the farm in spite of discouragements. My 
husband felt that this entire farming tradition must 
be built up if Woodbine colonists were to become and 
remain the equals of the native farmers. Therefore 
he intended that the colonists should be instructed in 
every branch of the theoretical and practical knowl- 
edge that would make for a farmer^s success. Not 
only this, but he meant to bring up the sons of the 
farmers, from the beginning, to understand and love 
the work on a farm. 

We had tried to develop the social side of life in 
Woodbine so that the young folks might have an outlet 
for their natural love of fun. There should be nothing 
of the dull, uninviting farm life about our Woodbine 
Colony! And my husband worked constantly, as I 
have shown, to have so many schools and such good 
schools in Woodbine that the growing minds of the 
youngsters would find ample food and opportunity for 
growth. Now he felt he could turn to the job that 
interested him most of all. He was going to build up 
a thorough system of agricultural education that should 
develop the best material among the farmers' sons ; that 
should cultivate professional ambition among the boys, 










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BRINGING SCIENCE TO FARMERS 113 

and show them — to quote my husband's own words — 
"how, by the aid of science and the practical experience 
of other farmers, to make farming as profitable as 
other professions are." 

This compelling dream of his had to take shape with 
a small beginning. As soon as the colony was well es- 
tablished, my husband began a series of weekly con- 
ferences, to which the farmers and their grown-up 
sons were invited. Every Saturday afternoon they 
would meet in the hall of the village to receive instruc- 
tion in farming, and to talk over their plans and the 
results of their work. These lectures were given in 
the form of explanation and comment on stereopticon 
views. This proved to be a good method of giving 
theoretical instruction to men, who, although their 
minds were active, were not used to getting informa- 
tion from lecture or textbooks. As my husband said 
in one of his reports: 

"As we are dealing with a class of people who know 
little of the English language and are not otherwise 
prepared for mental work requiring concentration, the 
method to be used should be picture teaching, or ad- 
dressing the mind through the instrumentality of the 
eye, that is, teaching by illustration. The practical 
training in the different kinds of work in the field and 
garden and orchard can go on together with an ex- 
planation in these picture talks of the anatomy of 
plants and trees, etc., and the best methods of feeding 
cattle, dairying and raising poultry. I shall also have 
demonstrations of the newest machines for tilling the 



114 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

soil, incubation and dairy-work. These lectures we 
want to make so attractive that our American neigh- 
bors will become interested in them, too. I am plan- 
ning to show with the magic lantern pictures that are 
both useful and interesting — specimens to illustrate 
the construction of a leaf, the circulation of food in 
an animal's body, the nature of fungi, and of insects 
attacking our plants." 

He put both of these plans for the theoretical and 
practical instruction of the farmers into action, and 
the Saturday afternoon lectures proved so beneficial 
that it was decided to build a large barn on Farm No. 
60, the upper story of which was to be used as a lecture 
room. But while in course of construction the plan of 
the upper hall was changed, and built so as to make 
it available for school purposes. This was the first 
home of the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School. 

During the preparatory period of the school (March 
to October, 1894) forty-two pupils were registered. 
The Woodbine farmers sent their sons, and so did 
Alliance, Carmel, Rosenheim — the neighboring South 
Jersey colonies — and Jewish farmers all over the coun- 
try. The first students could not receive a systematic 
course of lectures, as the school was not yet fully 
organized, but they were given practical instruction in 
the planting, grafting and care of fruit trees and in 
the growing of garden truck and field crops. Mean- 
while the Model Farm did much to advance the knowl- 
edge of the farmers in general, to whom the country, 
soil and climate conditions were unknown when they 




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BRINGING SCIENCE TO FARMERS 115 

came from their ghettos — whether in the cities of the 
old world or New York or Philadelphia. 

It may be interesting to mention here, as an example 
of my husband's care for the individual students as 
well as the general welfare of all collectively, the case 
of two young boys, the sons of Woodbine farmers. 
They were unusually bright and intelligent and he 
realized that all they needed was a chance. He saw 
in them good teachers and future farm-inspectors, who 
would be all the more useful because they spoke the 
language of the Jewish farmers. He did not purpose 
to keep them waiting until the Agricultural School 
should grow up to their needs. He devised, therefore, 
a plan for their training and the Fund gave him per- 
mission to carry it out. 

Shortly after peace had been made with the farmers, 
he called the two boys in one day, and asked them 
whether they would like to go to college. It was, in 
effect, the same as asking them whether they would 
like to live in bright sunshine or deep darkness! It 
was, of course, the dream of their young lives! But, 
they explained, they could not become a burden to their 
families, whom they were trying to support. My hus- 
band then revealed his plan. They should work two 
or three hours each day clearing bushes and stumps 
from Farm No. 60, earning pay enough to maintain 
themselves, and the rest of the day they might study 
to prepare themselves for college. The two boys were 
given lessons in English, with a few others, and once 



116 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

a week lectures on various subjects in agriculture. In 
eight months the two were ready for the Rutgers Col- 
lege entrance examinations, and, after attending for 
four years, they both graduated with the highest 
honors. To-day they are scientists, one of them being 
of international reputation — the greatest authority on 
soil analysis — Dr. Jacob G. Lipman. The establish- 
ment of the Agricultural School and the scholarships 
meant that the Fund stood ready to do as much for 
any other promising pupil. 

The classes in the new Agricultural School went 
ahead. The natural sciences — subjects such as botany, 
chemistry and physiology — ^were taught by my hus- 
band. Specialized branches of agriculture, such as 
poultry raising, bee-keeping and dairying were taught 
by Frederick Schmidt his assistant; while the general 
subjects, including drawing, were supervised by an 
alumnus, Jacob Kotinsky, of Rutgers College. Five 
hours were devoted to school work, and not less than 
five to farm work. Everything went well. The ex- 
hibits of farm products and the results of the school 
work at the county fair at the Court House, the Jewish 
Fair in Philadelphia, and the National Poultry Fair 
in Washington, D. C, furnished proof of the efficacy 
of the instruction. 

The school, at this time, had more spirit than body. 
There were, as yet, no dormitories, and the pupils 
either lived with their parents or boarded in the fam- 
ilies of the colonists. 




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CHAPTER XV 

A PIONEER OF AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS 

^ I ''HE real school was organized three years later. 
In 1897 large dormitories, with spacious bed- 
rooms, assembly rooms, reading and dining rooms, 
were built on Farm No. 62, and a large brick school 
building was erected, with all kinds of laboratories. 
A matron, cook and other workers were employed 
to take care of the physical needs of the one hundred 
boys, and also a governor and staff of teachers in gen- 
eral and agricultural branches. A teachers' cottage 
was built on the same grounds, so that a little colony 
within a colony was made. 

The students were trained in practical work includ- 
ing the raising of crops, caring for the live-stock, 
working in the dairy, the apiary, the hothouse, the 
nursery and the shops. The apiary was a special fea- 
ture. It was located in the center of the orchard, and 
the honey which the bees produced was the finest in 
New Jersey. In the mechanical shop a little of black- 
smithing, plumbing, carpentry, medicine and veterinary 
surgery were taught. This was designed to make the 
prospective farmer equal to any need or emergency that 
might arise on his farm. Nor was the marketing side 
of the farmer's work neglected. In the poultry plant 

117 



118 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

the students were taught how to use incubators, and 
the method of packing pouhry for market. The new- 
est of agricukural implements — mechanical ploughs, 
seeders, reapers and binders — were used by the boys 
of the school. In fact, so complete was the equipment, 
that a miniature weather bureau was fitted up on the 
top of the fifty-foot tower in the center of the Agri- 
cultural School grounds. This had all the necessary 
instruments, and the students took daily observations. 

The order of the school day was thus: The boys 
would rise at 6:30, take a cold shower, dress and start 
their daily work. They were led about the farm, which 
covered 300 acres, absorbing from actual experience 
knowledge of the cultivation of orchards, vineyards 
and greenhouses, and of the care of live-stock. Then, 
at ten, the day's toil was over, and the bell called all 
to bed and to rest. 

Students of both sexes were admitted to the Agri- 
cultural School. I remember the incident which led 
to the opening of a department therein for girls. One 
afternoon a girl of fifteen, the daughter of one of the 
farmers, came to see my husband to complain, with 
bitter tears, of her unhappy home. Her father, having 
lost his wife, had married a new one, who was proving 
the proverbial step-mother. What was the girl to do? 
Where was she to go ? My husband could not see her 
go without helping her, and it occurred to him at 
once : Why not give her a chance to study all branches 
of housekeeping and some branches of farming? 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL PIONEER 119 

This was his precedent for opening a girls' depart- 
ment in the Agricultural School. In the teachers* 
cottage, occupied by the matron and her staff, the upper 
floor was fitted up for the use of the girls. A course 
in cooking, general housework, mending and sewing 
was started, under the direction of our amiable and 
able matron, the late Mrs. Jennie Steinberg. Work in 
^ the hothouse, courses in English, arithmetic and other 
studies in the schoolroom completed the curriculum of 
the fifteen girls who were found ready to enter the 
department. In return for the instruction given them 
they assisted Mrs. Steinberg in taking care of the 
dormitories and keeping house for the hundred or 
more boys. 

With the high standards of accomplishment insisted 
upon by my husband in the school, only those teachers 
were employed who were able and willing to carry on 
the work in the right spirit. In answering an applicant 
for the position of governor, he said: 

"It is superfluous for me to state that the position 
is a very important one, involving a great many moral 
responsibilities. Only a person who has zeal and en- 
thusiasm for our work need apply. We should like 
to have a man who loves boys and is a teacher by 
calling." 

It was not, by any means, a light task to control the 
school and to ensure the contentment of the boys at 
all times. During the winter months life was easy, 
as there was no field work; but in summer the boys 



120 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

were particularly apt to be boys. They sought any 
and every excuse to "kick." And "kick" they did. One 
day, I recall, in July, when the matron was unable to 
work, some trivial item of the meal was missing, and 
the boys went on a strike. My husband had gone to 
Philadelphia on business, and learned of the strike only 
on his return. He was very indignant and wrought up. 
He trembled with anger and annoyance. Going to the 
school, he at once called the boys into assembly, and 
desired to be told their side of the story. It developed 
that they had no "side" worth presenting. They had 
no reason whatsoever for complaint. After a talk he 
informed those who still felt that the substitution of 
jam for butter, in an emergency, was sufficient reason 
for their conduct — especially considering the fact that 
they were receiving free food, clothes, lodging and tui- 
tion — that they would be given railroad fares and re- 
quested to leave. 

A very good idea of the school's activities and stand- 
ards may be formed from an article on Woodbine 
which appeared in Hoard's Dairyman in 1902. It 
read: 

"The Agricultural School is well housed and 
equipped with capable teachers, in charge of about one 
hundred and ten students. The dairy, a credit to any 
institution, is in charge of Joseph W. Pincus, a Storrs 
College graduate. A fine dairy it is, with barns and 
silos. The dairy boys, and indeed most of the agri- 
cultural students, are from the city, and in many cases 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL PIONEER 121 

from an orphans' home or from Hester Street, and 
are sent here to be trained as farmers and as useful, 
independent men. 

"The course in dairying starts with stable manage- 
ment. The written examination has, as its first ques- 
tion: Why a stable?' and then the whys and where- 
fores of stable management have to be written out in 
full. When this course is mastered, the milk room 
education is taken up, a primary course which would 
be of great advantage to seven out of ten dairymen 
in the whole country. In a booklet issued by the Wood- 
bine Dairy is told how the animals are kept in clean, 
ventilated, light stables. A veterinary certificate shows 
the cows are free from disease. The milking is done 
by young men of clean habits. The cows' milk, after 
being weighed, is removed to the milk room and 
strained, when it is conducted to the cooler. It is 
there immediately bottled and put into the refrigerator. 
The milk is analyzed twice a month. Needless, to 
say, all pails, strainers and utensils are thoroughly 
sterilized. 

"Mr. Joseph W. Pincus, whose fine bearing and 
handsome face make him a general favorite with visi- 
tors, and seem to fit him for a fashionable drawing- 
room rather than for a farm, took us one day on a 
tour of inspection of his dairy, which he has made a 
model for all the country. He pointed out eighteen 
pedigreed cows with the whimsical remark that he 
would be at a loss for names for any addition to the 
herd, as he had already exhausted the names of all 
his sweethearts!" 

The school commencements always took place early 
in the spring, as the graduates and often the under- 



122 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

graduates had to leave for positions which were offered 
them in all parts of the Union. The Agricultural 
School during the very first years of its experience 
graduated some of its brightest pupils into agricul- 
tural colleges, and found good-paying work for many 
others who have since become supervisors or foremen 
on farms, competent florists, poultrymen and heads of 
large stock farms. 

The school semesters were later arranged to be even 
more elastic for the convenience of the students. A 
boy spent one whole year at school ; then, in the second 
summer, he was sent out to hold a position in which he 
would earn both money and experience. In the winter 
he came back to school again. Thus his stay at the 
school would be for one summer and three winters — 
an arrangement particularly well adapted to farm 
life. 

It is difficult to give a systematized account and to 
show in figures just what the school accomplished for 
the boys; but my husband always liked to tell of one 
case that in his estimation, stood out prominently. A 
boy of about eighteen entered the school. He could 
speak very little English. All his moral make-up was 
rather repulsive and to have him near was irritating. 
He was neither bright in the class-room nor industrious 
in the field. He did nothing that would warrant our 
keeping him in the school; but, at the same time, he 
did nothing that would serve as an excuse for sending 
him away. So nearly eight months passed without a 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL PIONEER 123 

sign that our school had done anything for him except 
increase his weight and improve his general health. 

But one day he entered the office and told my hus- 
band and Dr. Boris Bogen, the principal, that he had 
learned a little English ; that his parents needed his help 
badly; and that he felt it his duty to go out and work 
for a living and to support them. He said that he ap- 
preciated deeply what the school had done for him and 
added that while he might stay and learn a little more 
during the winter months, he would be obliged to leave 
in the summer, just when he might be of some use. He 
felt that this would be unfair to the school. When he 
came to take leave we tried to induce him to accept 
some warm clothing as a little start, until he should 
secure work, but he declared that the school had done 
enough for him already, and that he would wear the 
old clothes in which he came to us. 

My husband and Dr. Bogen felt that the boy showed 
much independence and self-respect. Surely the school 
had left its good impress on him, but as to his show- 
ing on the record, he had done us no credit. So much 
had been spent on him, with nothing tangible to show 
on the books; yet few of our graduates could reveal 
more gratifying results of what we had done for 
them! 

As another and final tribute in relation to the Agri- 
cultural School work, I may insert a letter which speaks 
for itself, coming as it does from a student who had 
to leave before his course was completed: 



124 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

"My dear Professor Sabsovich: 

*'You know that I left for the sake of my parents. 
I tried hard to convince them by letter that I had so 
much better advantage in the Woodbine Agricultural 
School, but I did not succeed. Just as a child who 
leaves his father and mother and brothers and sisters 
is sorry, so I am sorry. I loved your institution so well 
for all the good it was doing me and the rest of the 
boys. I am far away now, but it does not keep me 
from wishing you and the pupils you direct success 
and the chance to make out of your institution one that 
shall be the praise of the Jewish people." 



CHAPTER XVI 



WOODBINE ENTERTAINS 



TT TOODBINE had become a civic entity. It had 
^^ been developed from a rustic wilderness; first, 
into a rather formless colony; then into a neat and 
charming little township. Men unaccustomed to axe 
and spade had cut down hundreds of acres of trees and 
laid model roads, which were well-graded and drained, 
the best roads the county had. 

The next necessary step was the building of a com- 
modious country hotel. The only place where visitors 
could be entertained up to that time was our house. 
There was not a day that one or more visitors would 
not come on business to see my husband, often without 
any previous notice. I would, about 11.30, receive 
word from my husband that one, two or even four 
guests were coming to dinner. "Please be ready for 
us," would be his message. It was a heavy task in 
every way, and though after the hotel was built we 
often entertained at our table, then it was by our own 
choice. 

Very distinguished visitors were thus received. For 
the little colony among the New Jersey pines had 

125 



126 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

begun to attract national and even international atten- 
tion. The experiment had ceased to be an experiment 
and now pointed the way for a much wider application. 
The numerous visitors were not merely curiosity seek- 
ers but men and women of practical vision seeking the 
man who had blazed trails they were following. 

I well remember how, one beautiful morning, when 
my husband was expecting Gen. Booth-Tucker and 
Mr. Morris Fels, on the same train with them came 
Miss Voltairine de Cleyre, a leader of the anarchist 
group in Philadelphia. My husband and I were quite 
worried as to how the dinner would proceed in a social 
way, having at one table a leader of the Salvation 
Army; a devoted representative of the principles of 
ethical culture; and a fanatical exponent of free 
thought, free love and so on. But the splendid way in 
which my husband turned the conversation into certain 
channels effectively prevented a single break; not a 
hitch took place, and for hours we sat after the meal, 
talking on different topics, the three leaders in their 
respective movements leaving with the greatest ad- 
miration for each other. 

The very same year the great Russian writer, Vlad- 
imir Korolenko, while on a tour of the United States, 
visited Woodbine and spent three days with us. He 
could not admire enough the results that had been 
accomplished in the colony, and some time after his 
return to Russia my husband received the following 



WOODBINE ENTERTAINS 127 

characteristic communication from him, which I trans- 
late: 

"Nijni-Novgorod, 
"Sept. 10, 1894. 
"My dear Woodbine Moses: — 

"I should not be surprised if in that fine Woodbine 
town Vladimir Korolenko is being badly scolded; he, 
who in spite of his promise to write about Woodbine, 
hasn't even answered your letter. But, if in Woodbine 
they could know just what happened to Vladimir 
Korolenko during this time, they would be more lenient 
with him. 

"First: Do you remember my story of my little 
girl, whom I left back in Russia? I then told you 
how she had held on to my neck and would not let 
go. I well remember recounting this story one evening, 
when we were all gathered around your samovar — 
September 1, according to the Russian calendar^ — ^but 
there was no more Lyolya at that time. I found a 
telegram upon my arrival in Paris, announcing her 
death. My wife, who was at the time visiting her 
brother in Rumania, was unaware of the fact, and I 
had to take her this sad news. For six long nights 
and days without a stop I was traveling to Galetz and 
then to Tulchz. Now, what is there to say? You will 
easily comprehend my feelings at the time. Upon my 
return to Russia my two other little girls became ill 
with diphtheria, one after another in my sister's home ; 
a boy, already in high school, took scarlet fever and 
died four days later. 

"These were the conditions that met me upon my 
return to Russia. Now you see clearly the reason why 
I did not write to you. As a matter of fact, I have 



128 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

only just begun to make use of my note-book on Amer- 
ica, and have not yet published anything regarding my 
tour. Every time I have taken up my papers and 
notes, a sharp pain in my heart would blight every 
thought and inspiration. So, will you forgive me, my 
dear Sabsovich? Do you not see how far from the 
outside world and from letter-writing I was? 

"Please do write me again about yourself, about the 
sweetest of little girls, Marusya, and about every one 
of your family, and do it quickly. 

"Now that misfortune and heart-pain have left me 
for a while, I have begun working on the "American 
Impressions." Possibly I'll start to publish them from 
October in Russkoje Bogatstvo, 

"First — will be England. Woodbine I will devote 
one big article to. I'll be very grateful to you if you 
will send me the very latest news about your life. But 
the most important thing — after all — will be an assur- 
ance that you are not angry with me; that you are 
enjoying good health ; and that you do not forget your 
(against his will) ungrateful Woodbine visitor. 

"Meanwhile, I shake your hand heartily. 

"Your 

"Vl. Korolenko. 

"I will send you my book within a week or two." 



CHAPTER XVII 

NEW INSTITUTIONS 

'T^O its Other glories Woodbine had added also this 
^ ■*' distinction: It had become a very fine health re- 
sort. A young woman, ill from overwork as a teacher 
in one of the New York schools, visited Woodbine, 
where she had friends, to recuperate. She returned 
to the city in splendid health, and in her exuberant 
gratitude, thus wrote of the place: 

"I shall always remember Woodbine with a feeling 
of pride for our Jewish brothers who seek to eke out 
a living by earnest and honest labor on the farm and 
in the several factories. There is so much that is 
praiseworthy in Woodbine — its plodding and enthusi- 
astic inhabitants, combined with its healthful, life- 
giving surroundings, that the three weeks of my stay 
there can never be effaced from my memory, and as 
to its effects upon my physical condition, I hope they 
will be permanent." 

This letter and those of many others who happened 
to spend their vacations in Woodbine brought to my 
husband the idea of turning one of the farms into a 
sanatorium, to give city-dwellers suffering from incip- 
ient tuberculosis a chance to find new health. A farm- 

129 



130 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

er's wife was engaged to take care of the place and 
attend to the needs of the visitors. It was made a 
rule that no limit whatsoever must be put on the food. 
Guests were to have eggs, butter, cheese, milk and 
vegetables, meat — all they wanted and could consume. 
Of course the Committee supplied these needs free of 
charge. 

The sanatorium existed for over a year and the re- 
sults were splendid. With what gratitude did the ail- 
ing ones who arrived there pale, with hollow cheeks, 
leave the place after a stay of five to eight weeks, gain- 
ing sometimes from twenty to thirty pounds. 

The people of Woodbine began to feel that they 
were entitled to a synagogue. For years they had wor- 
shipped in temporary quarters; but the Woodbine 
Brotherhood decided now to build its own house of 
worship. (This was, in itself, a sufficient sign that 
the colony had become a success!) They subscribed 
very liberally toward the erection of the building. The 
Baron de Hirsch Fund loaned them money on the 
first mortgage ; two-thirds of the entire cost in all. The 
brick used in building was made on one of the farms 
where the soil was clay, and the structure was amply 
planned: fifty feet wide and two stories high. The 
lower one, which was particularly well lighted, was 
used for years as a school room for the Congregation. 
Religious instruction was given in the afternoon, kin- 
dergarten classes were held there in the morning, and 
evenings and Saturdays the various clubs and organ- 



NEW INSTITUTIONS 131 

izations met there. Woodbine was thus ahead of the 
times in utilizing its public buildings to the full. 

We celebrated the dedication of the structure in fine 
style. Dr. Morris Jastrow officiated. The members 
of the congregation, in order of seniority, carried the 
six Scrolls of the Law for the three circuits about the 
synagogue; the Ark then was opened and the scrolls 
deposited. The key of the synagogue was presented 
by a Httle girl. Herman Rosenfeld, the President of 
the Brotherhood, a brilliant man of whom any com- 
munity might have been proud, accepted the key, with 
a few happy words. 

Notwithstanding the inclement weather, the visitors 
spent a few very pleasant hours visiting the schools, 
the factories, the sanatorium and other places of in- 
terest. 

An incident, however, occurred, which might have 
made the happy occasion end very sadly. We were to 
entertain at a lunch from fifty to sixty outsiders — 
guests from New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore — 
and at supper all the Woodbine settlers. There was a 
great deal of work to be done and my husband asked 
me to take charge of the affair. To be assured that 
some, at least, of my co-workers would be with me 
from the start, I asked about eight girls to come and 
stay over night at my home. At 3 a. m. we arose and 
were greeted by a most unpleasant and unwelcome 
sound. A heavy rain was pouring floods on the roof 
and into our windows! Fortunately, true to our pre- 



132 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

vious arrangement, Mr. Schmidt, always ready to help, 
was at the door with a large covered wagon. We all 
jumped in and drove to the new building, which was 
some distance from the house. Leaving the first load 
of persons and parcels, he returned for another, bring- 
ing in addition a half-dozen more volunteer workers. 
At 4 a. m. the whole staff was ready to begin work, 
and there was much work to be accomplished by noon. 

At 1 p. m. all the tables were set and the whole 
synagogue beautifully decorated with plants and flow- 
ers and bunting. The tables were laden with the finest 
examples of culinary art that Woodbine housewives 
could produce — roasted turkeys, chickens, geese and 
ducks; salads of every description; entrees of every 
sort; home preserves and canned fruits; jams and mar- 
malades; cakes, strawberry and grape wines. 

In another twenty minutes the visitors were ex- 
pected ! It was time to make the coffee ! A gasoline 
stove was brought, and one of the workers turned on 
the flow of gasoline, but, whether through excitement 
or inexperience, did not shut it off. At once we were 
horror-stricken! A great flame shot up to the very 
ceiling, and an unearthly scream arose of: "Fire; 
Fire !" With marvelous presence of mind, one of the 
young girls covered her hair and face with a wet towel, 
ran forward and turned off the flow of gasoline. But 
for this action the whole building would have gone 
up in flames before the visitors had even arrived! 

The town had many clubs and benevolent organiza- 



NEW INSTITUTIONS 133 

tions. The Civic Club instructed the people in politics 
and social literature ; a girls' physical culture club had 
for its object, of course, physical training; a volunteer 
fire department did efficient work; and a brass band 
was organized. 

The village statutes were so well kept and the law 
so much respected that a Justice of the Peace was the 
only officer there, and he was usually busy writing 
letters in English for the settlers, as he was seldom if 
ever called upon to exercise his official duties. 

The sanitary conditions and other matters relative 
to the physical welfare of the community were left in 
control of the Woodbine Improvement Society, organ- 
ized for this very purpose. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE COLONY INCORPORATES 

'T^HE matter of taxation and of the control of the 
-*• schools was the one nearest to the hearts of the 
people of Woodbine, and it was deemed necessary to 
face it firmly. My husband knew that Dennis Town- 
ship was not treating Woodbine fairly in regard to 
these two important questions. He therefore felt that 
the Legislature might be induced to grant Woodbine a 
charter of incorporation on an appeal for justice in 
these two matters. 

We wished to enlarge our schools — as we had over 
three hundred children at the time — but representa- 
tives of the School Board of Dennis Township, the 
section which would have to share the expense of the 
buildings and upkeep of the schools, raised an outcry. 
They would not share the expenses, and the dark 
forces of Woodbine joined with them. Besides this, 
my husband showed the Legislature that Woodbine did 
not have an active voice on the Board of Assessors, 
and that they were taxed out of proportion to other 
places in the Township. The legislators were rightly 
impressed by the petition, and a bill, giving Woodbine 
a separate political identity, was passed on March 3, 

134 



THE COLONY INCORPORATES 135 

1903. Mr. Jacob Schiff wrote to my husband, con- 
gratulating Woodbine on its new right to self-govern- 
ment. My husband replied: 

*'My dear Mr. Schiff: 

"I will report your encouraging words at the May 
meeting that the Woodbine people will hold this week. 
I hope the responsibility taken by the people of Wood- 
bine will not be too heavy for them and that they will 
prove themselves worthy of the trust now conferred 
upon them." 

How Woodbine rejoiced when, next morning, the 
happy news reached it, may be imagined! The first 
Jewish community to govern itself! Not a whistle 
blew that day to call the people to work. The schools 
were closed. The town band and Agricultural School 
band were out in full force. What a hooraying and 
tooting and making of music ! Where did the young- 
sters find all the horns and tin trumpets? 

The Civic Club hung out a big poster announcing 
the coming elections of the new borough. There was 
no question in any mind as to the man to head the list 
of new officers to be voted for — ^who should be elected 
the first Mayor of the first Jewish borough! There 
was just one name — that of Professor Sabsovich, the 
father of the place, and, without a dissenting vote, he 
was elected. Sixteen citizens for the six Council- 
men prescribed by law, were nominated. Scarcely a 
newspaper, large or small, throughout the country, 
failed to chronicle the event. 



136 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

The real jubilation started at the installation of the 
newly chosen officers. An inaugural festival of the 
Borough of Woodbine was entered into by a home 
commencement of the local public school; music by 
the Woodbine Military band; recitations by the grad- 
uates ; tableaux and addresses by the late Dr. Blaustein 
of New York, the late Dr. Radin and the County 
Superintendent. 

The next day, Memorial Day, 1903, was welcomed 
by a salute to the flag on the Agricultural School cam- 
pus, at sunrise. All the one hundred boys of the Agri- 
cultural School, in their uniforms, paid the beautiful 
tribute to the emblem of freedom from the children 
of foreign lands, who saw not only the natural dawn, 
but the dawn of a new civic regime. A large banner 
was presented to my husband — the first Jewish Mayor 
of the first Jewish community — in the name of the kin- 
dergarten. The Girls' Club brought as their offering 
a wreath of white roses and smilax intertwined, with 
an emblematic white dove. The day's festivities were 
varied and interesting, and at twilight there was a 
pageant, which included members of every organiza- 
tion in Woodbine. This was a sight the like of which 
Woodbine never saw before, and which would have 
done honor to any large city. After the parade a ball 
was given by the fire company. A banquet was given 
to the newly-elected officers and their wives in the 
Baron de Hirsch Fund Hall, and thus the celebration 
of the new borough ended. 



THE COLONY INCORPORATES 137 

Professor Sabsovich had reached the height of his 
career. He had developed, as one of his admirers has 
written: "a community where good American citizen- 
ship and traditional Judaism go hand in hand. It was 
Professor Sabsovich's pride to point out to the world 
how well the Jew performs his duty as a citizen, a 
patriot and contributor to the well-being of his coun- 
try when the opportunity is afforded him. It was his 
great joy to see the farmer and factory-worker, only 
recently the subjects of oppression and persecution,, 
talk freely, with head erect, of affairs in their new 
country, state and county, giving their time, money 
and energy to make their town a model of neatness and 
cleanliness; to build up an exemplary public school 
system; to care for the poor and needy; and provide 
for the moral and physical training of the young gen- 
eration." 

With movements for the public good he was actively 
concerned throughout all his later years. In this 
spirit he writes to Rev. Dr. Krauskopf, Philadelphia: 

"I have read in today's Public Ledger, the article 
'American Citizenship in Russia, the Right Denied,* 
containing your appeal to the Winfield Scott Post, G. 
A. R. I am deeply touched by your determination to 
test the rights of an American citizen to brave travel 
or to reside in Russia, where I know this right will be 
denied to you. The treaty of 1832 between Russia and 
the United States gives the right to American citizens 
to sojourn and reside and secures protection, on condi- 
tion that they submit to the laws and ordinances pre- 



138 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

vailing there. You know the laws and ordinances in 
Russia in regard to the Jews. How can you expect 'lib- 
erty to sojourn and reside' and protection if the natives 
are denied these privileges? From the standpoint of in- 
ternational law the Russian government has the right to 
trample upon your American citizenship, and our gov- 
ernment has to permit itself to be snubbed. It is only 
a logical sequence of the alliance between the Goddess 
of Liberty and the Demon of Tyranny. Did France 
fare better than the United States from her shameful 
and unholy union with Russia? Had she not to stand 
a snubbing, and very soon after she degraded herself 
and lowered the dignity of a republic. What other 
treatment could you expect from a government repre- 
senting the secret form of autocracy toward the highest 
form of democratic government on God's earth? Are 
these two governments naturally not antagonistic to 
each other ? Let the alliance between the United States 
and Russia cease and the torch of Liberty be lighted 
as it was under the forefathers and founders of this 
great democracy ! Let all treaties with Russia be abro- 
gated, and the true dignity of this country restored! 
Let all true American citizens unite in the demand to 
abrogate the last extradition treaty with Russia ! You 
will do much more for the cause of your brethren in 
Russia by championing the abrogation movement than 
by sacrificing your comforts and entering Russia, or 
trying to enter, in spite of the desire of her govern- 
ment. If countries like the United States, England 
and France would call back their representatives, they 
w^ould soon have treaties signed which would secure 
protection to the citizens of the respective countries 
as they have in Japan and China." 



THE COLONY INCORPORATES 139 

At the sixth convention of the National Conference 
of Jewish charities, held in May, 1910, he spoke on the 
subject nearest his heart. Discussing a paper written 
by Mr. Chester Teller on "Special Education of Jewish 
Dependent Children,'* he said: 

"I am requested to discuss the excellent paper of 
Mr. Teller, but I would rather say something about 
what is to be done with girls and boys between the 
ages of fourteen and sixteen, not only those depend- 
ent on charity, but those who are taken care of by 
their parents as well. 

"Children of these ages are too young to enter the 
skilled professions. The boys usually take unskilled 
positions in offices, stores, factories and shops, and 
when they reach the earning wage of sixteen and 
eighteen, they have small chance of advancing them- 
selves, and having no trade, they drift from one em- 
ployment to another. If they fail .to improve, during 
this time, the knowledge they have acquired in the 
public schools, they often forget the little they have 
learned. This question as to what to do with boys and 
girls of fourteen to sixteen has become in New York, 
as elsewhere, a question of vast importance. The City 
and State of New York are therefore .taking steps 
toward solving the problem by introducing vocational 
schools. Such a school for boys opened last Septem- 
ber for those who have gone to the sixth grade or its 
equivalent, and they receive not only academic train- 
ing, but professional training as well. A considerable 
part of their time is spent in the shops where printing, 
carpentry, plumbing, electrical wiring and blacksmith- 
ing are taught. Even if this and similar schools should 



140 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

only develop some mechanical attitude in the pupils 
and reduce the number of drifters, their existence 
would be justified. The length of the course is from 
one to three years. The Hebrew Technical School 
for boys and the Baron de Hirsch Trade School fill 
partly the demand for trade and technical education 
for Jewish boys and young men. The Clara de Hirsch 
Home for working girls and the Hebrew Technical 
School for girls give industrial training to girls. The 
Manhattan Trade School for girls was taken over by 
the Board of Education of the City of New York. 

"By introducing industrial training as an educational 
feature in the orphan asylums we should help the move- 
ment toward trade education and send out boys and 
girls with distinctly developed mechanical inclinations 
and better prepared to take up trade as a life vocation. 

"As concerns farming, the general impression is that 
it is no use training our children to take up farming, 
as farming is not a Jewish occupation and that at- 
tempts to make farmers out of Jews have universally 
proven failures. We have heard a young minister 
speak on the great possibilities of farming in general 
in this country, and he proposes, by establishing test 
farms, to make American farmers out of Jewish im- 
migrants. At the same time he condemned all the 
previous efforts at colonizing, particularly those in 
the South and West. A gentleman from Memphis, 
also a minister, I believe, tells us of the failure of 
colonization in Texas. He did not tell us, however, 
that the immigrants were sent to a fever-stricken dis- 
trict. The fact is, however, that throughout the United 
States there are thousands of prosperous Jewish farm- 
ers. Within twelve miles of Hartford, Conn., for 
instance, there is a settlement of from twenty-five to 



THE COLONY INCORPORATES 141 

thirty prosperous Jewish farmers, who are not only 
Jews, but good Americans as well. Their houses are 
equipped with telephone service; some have modern 
heating appliances, sewerage, and above all — they have 
modern methods of farming. They are among the 
best tobacco raisers in the country. 

**There are also several colonies on the southern part 
of New Jersey. It is true that the experiences of these 
pioneers have been of the hardest kind, but they have 
succeeded in overcoming their difficulties and are now 
not only very prosperous, but are known as the raisers 
of the finest sweet-potatoes in the country. They 
raise the famous *Vineland Sweets.* 

"Although I have had many bitter disappointments 
in* my life's work, I am nevertheless more optimistic 
than ever as to the future of Jewish farming. With 
the encouragement that the Jews now have to own and 
work their own lands, farming is steadily getting a per- 
manent foothold among Jews. In fact, it has long 
passed the experimental stage, and I hope to see its 
following grow steadily broader and vaster in num- 
bers; and the orphan asylums would do well to intro- 
duce horticulture and agriculture into their educational 
programs, as there is no doubt that many of the wards 
would develop an inclination to take up farming as a 
vocation, and thus many would be afforded a healthy 
opportunity to grow outside of their congested and 
overcrowded city employment." 



CHAPTER XIX 



RECOLLECTIONS 



'TT^HE fulfilment of his life my husband had found 
-"- in the success of the Woodbine Colony. He 
turned now to his personal affairs and those of his 
family, particularly the future of our children. We 
planned that in 1905 our three daughters were to 
begin attendirig high school and college in New York. 
It was, therefore, necessary to arrange our lives so 
that we could be with them. 

A year previously Mr. Solomons, the general agent 
for the Fund had resigned, and the Committee engaged 
someone to act temporarily, meanwhile looking for a 
man to take up the work permanently. My husband 
applied for this position in July, 1905, and was prompt- 
ly accepted. A month later we moved to New York 
City. 

It was responsible work, but without the worries he 
constantly met with in Woodbine. This was a great 
relief, for, though his appearance was that of a strong, 
robust man, he was really of an intensely nervous tem- 
perament and serious illnesses had left his heart very 
weak. He was in touch with Woodbine and its affairs, 
however, until the very end. Even at a distance he 

142 



RECOLLECTIONS 143 

could not be happy without taking an active part In 
the affairs of the community. 

With movements for the public good In New York 
he was also concerned, and when a hospital in the 
Bronx was proposed, he stepped In and worked zeal- 
ously toward making It a success. He was a member 
of the Board of Trustees and treasurer of its funds. 
When the dispensary of the hospital was opened, as 
one of its visiting directors he never missed a Saturday 
morning there, to assist in one or another capacity. 

But all his activities were Interrupted when. In Feb- 
ruary, 1914, he fell seriously 111. The best specialists 
in the city were called and pronounced his case hope- 
less; but the wonderful care that two physicians, Dr. 
William Klein and Dr. Paul Kaplan, family friends, 
gave him day and night, helped him to recover. After 
two months he was able to leave his bed and go to the 
country to recuperate. We remained there from April 
to June, when he decided that he must return to work. 
We took a bungalow for the summer at the seashore, 
and four days a week he went back and forth to his 
work, regardless of the weather. Upon our return to 
New York we moved to a lower section of the city, so 
that he might avoid traveling by subway. Here he 
worked for another year, with his health terribly im- 
paired, and on February 28, 1915, he fell ill, never to 
be up again. 

After his death, his nurse, an elderly woman, told 
me that she had been at the bedside of many prom- 



144 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

inent men during her long years of nursing, but never 
had she taken care of one who, even in delirium, — 
which endured for five days — would speak of men with 
such kindliness and reveal ideals so high. 

Gentle in all his ways, with a heart so great, nature 
so sweet, and a spirit so lofty, he lies now at rest! 
May his soul know the peace that in life he always 
strove for so eagerly! 

:|c 9|: He ^ 9|C 

All the circumstances relative to my husband's ac- 
tive life were apparent to the world at large. Every- 
one who came into contact with him recognized his 
admirable qualities. I have often seen the practical 
idealism that made his success possible illustrated in 
his relations with our children. 

Two of our girls — Nellie and Vera, once ran breath- 
less into the house, eyes filled with tears, and voices 
quivering with sympathy. "Father," they exclaimed, 
"we have just seen a pitiful sight; there is a poor crip- 
pled man walking along the railway track; he looks 
starved, he is ragged and is begging for some money 
to enable him to pay his fare to Philadelphia. We 
ought to help him." "Of course," said my husband, 
"you should. You have your little banks, why not 
give the poor man the money?" Both girls quickly 
emptied their long-time savings and were off. 

From the babyhood of Marie on the estate at Yiesk, 
in Russia, she was a companion of her father. It was 



RECOLLECTIONS 145 

a quaint sight to see her toddling after him, wherever 
he could possibly permit it, about the fields and or- 
chards. A born teacher, he answered all her ques- 
tions with care and consideration, feeding her mind 
with what it could assimilate, and incidentally instruct- 
ing her about the facts of life, as well as about the 
creatures, the soil and the growing plant life. 

A story of that period will show what a small ex- 
pert the child became, and how expedient her knowl- 
edge could prove. The two had gone for a long 
walk, which, as usual, ended with Marie, tired but tri- 
umphant, on her father's shoulders. When he turned 
to go back, however, my husband, thinking to take a 
short cut lost his way through the woods and in the 
similarity of the flat fields. His confidence failed 
him, but he felt that if he could only strike the borders 
of the estate he could find his way. Emerging from 
a clearing in the forest, they came upon another seem- 
ingly endless field of grain. He set the child down for 
a moment and gazed around. Marie put an end to his 
perplexity: 

"Father," she said, embracing the tall stalks. "Our 
wheat!" 

He was surprised and incredulous. 

"Our wheat!" she insisted. 

And so it was. . . . 

When, from Fort Collins, he went to New York 
City at the invitation of the Baron de Hirsch Fund 
Committee, she went with him. 



146 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

Two or three years later, when, after the breach 
with the farmers at Woodbine, he fell sick and was 
ordered south to recover, Marie accompanied him as 
his nurse. Though a mere youngster of eight, she 
could be fully trusted to take exquisite care of him. 
In fact, he demurred a little against her exacting cau- 
tion and the amount of thought which she gave to 
his health and comfort. He felt that "fussing over 
him," as he called it, was not the important matter it 
was made. 

Again, when he was staying in the Catskill Moun- 
tains after his attack of pneumonia, — under her charge, 
of course, — he attempted to neglect her orders. But 
it was of no avail. Distressed to see him set out on 
a muddy mountain walk unprotected by overshoes, 
Marie caught them up and ran after him. 

"Put them on,*' she insisted, "the doctor told me that 
you mustn't get your feet wet." 

Metaphorically speaking, he threw up his hands. 

"My dear," he sighed, "I'm glad that you love me, 
but why be such a tyrant?'* 

Inseparable as they were, however, he would never 
permit her fervent devotion to concentrate on him or 
on our family alone. With a deep and selfless wis- 
dom he kept turning her mind outward, directing her 
budding thoughts and activities toward the service of 
the community and the broad human interests in 
which he himself was absorbed. 

One winter evening in Woodbine I shall never for- 



RECOLLECTIONS 147 

get. My husband had been called away to New York, 
but had promised to return on a certain day, and to 
bring with him some lovely mechanical dolls for the 
three children. We were expecting him and the little 
girls, especially, were looking forward to his coming 
with eagerness. But when a heavy snowstorm set in, 
with a driving wind, I hoped he would not try to re- 
turn. The time for the last express came and passed, 
and even the children decided that it was better for 
Papa not to travel on such a night. Just as, however, 
in spite of their disappoinment, they had bravely re- 
signed themselves to retiring, into the room he burst, 
his arms full of bundles and covered with snow. The 
gaiety and excitement which followed may be imagined. 
"I couldn't wait to see the children's faces when they 
saw the dolls,'' he explained, as a plea to me. *T 
missed the express, but I took the local to the Junction 
(two miles away) and," he finished, apologetically, "I 
had to walk the rest of the way." 

And though it was by imprudent impulses like these 
that he was wearing himself out, I could not chide 
him. 

Full of joyous excitement. Vera, our second daugh- 
ter, a little later exclaimed: 

"Papa! is there a happier family than ours, any- 
where?" 

Truly It seemed that there could not be, and 
to me no small part of this man's greatness of spirit 



148 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

is reflected in the simple fact that no turmoil of public 
duties was ever so great as to submerge his devotion to 
his own or dull his constant effort to make us com- 
pletely happy. 



CHAPTER XX 

IN THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE 

T VISITED, last summer, and for the first time in 
several years, the place of my husband's rest at 
Woodbine. In the village I had helped him to found, 
where I had shared every tribulation and triumph of 
his, I found the memory of him still green and held 
in fragrant recollection. Many a story I heard for the 
first time of his friendliness to young and old. 

Mrs. N related how, when a child of nine, she 

used to pasture her cow along the railroad tracks; 
once the cow broke loose, and trespassed in our flower 
garden. The gardener, enraged when he saw the cow 
in his domain, trampling down his floral treasures, 
ran after her and caught her. Meanwhile the young- 
ster flew breathlessly after her charge; but when she 
asked him to turn the cow over to her, he said, harshly: 

"Oh, no. I'll arrest both you and the cow. I'm 
going to bring you into the Professor's office." 

The little girl was terrified as the gardener brought 
her, with big tears streaming down her face, before 
my husband. After listening to the tale of the trans- 
gression, he turned to the gardener: 

"You have scared that little child out of her wits. 

Do you think that all the flowers in Woodbine are 

149 



150 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

worth her tears?'* And, telling her gently to be care- 
ful next time, he sent her away. 

A citizen, the father of several children to-day, told 
me that when a student at the Agricultural School, 
he was walking one moonlight night with two young 
ladies, and, happening to pass the greenhouse — where 
he had planted the flowers himself — the girls expressed 
a wish for some, when he gathered a bouquet and gave 
it to them. But the vigilant gardener was on the watch, 
and he ran after the party and made a scene, and 
brought the boy to the office. 

After hearing the complaint, my husband asked the 
gardener whether he had ever been young and walked 
with a pretty girl in the moonlight? If he had, what 
would he have done? — and dismissed the youthful 
transgressor at once. 

Mrs. E. W told me that when a school-girl of 

twelve, the road over which the children had daily to 
travel to school was in very bad condition. It was 
almost impassable for their bicycles, on which they had 
not only to transport themselves but their lunch-boxes 
and books. A group of boys and girls, none of them 
over twelve, decided to petition the only person they 
knew they could reach. They came to my husband and 
explained their difficulties in a most businesslike man- 
ner. He gravely listened to their tale, and turning to 
his stenographer, dictated the following petition, in 
due form: 

"We, the undersigned, wish to put before Dennis- 



IN THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE 151 

ville Township our plea to have the road to our school 
— which is one mile long — put into a condition which 
will enable us to ride our wheels over it without 
danger." 

He then required each child to sign, and sent the 
plea to the proper authorities, and during the spring 
and summer the road was repaired, with others. When 
school started in the fall, the children came once more 
in a body to their friend, and thanked him for the 
part he had taken in obtaining the improved roads. 
Again he caused them to sign a letter, this time of 
thanks, and sent it to the town officials who had caused 
the roads to be repaired. 

A woman who began her career as the first kinder- 
garten teacher in Woodbine, told me that her whole 
attitude towards life had been moulded by Professor 
Sabsovich. 

"How we did worship that man!" she said. "Any- 
thing we had done that in any way displeased him was 
a horrible mortification to us. All he need to have 
done was to command, and we would have obeyed; 
but that was not his way. He merely guided, and we 
followed, feeling safe and happy in doing so. 

"There was little we could do to express to the Pro- 
fessor our esteem and reverence and the gratitude we 
felt towards him. On his birthday we usually man- 
aged to arrange something that would please him. 
One birthday, in particular, stands out in my mind. 



152 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 

"The boys of the Agricultural School had arranged 
a little dance, to which only his devoted friends were 
invited. Just before the day came around, it snowed 
for three days. Then a thaw set in, followed by a 
heavy rain. It was an awful night. The slush was so 
deep that it was hardly possible to pass through it 
even in boots. We girls were on needles and pins 
\ with suspense. We did not dare to venture out, and 
stood, ready dressed, wondering how we should ever 
reach the school, which was at some distance from 
the town proper. The boys had worried, too, but they 
worried to some purpose! They all managed to get 
high boots, and came around to our houses, and carried 
most of the girls over to the school ! We were all there, 
a sight to behold! 

"Owing to the dreadful storm Professor did not 
expect any celebration. When he entered the hall and 
saw the decorations and all of us assembled as though 
nothing had gone wrong with the elements, he was 
astounded. His first impulse was to scold us girls 
for daring to venture out on such a night. But soon 
his face beamed with pride and gratitude at the thought 
of such devotion, and the next moment he was happy 
and gay. 

"The big constructive work accomplished by the 
Professor we fully realized in later life. Neverthe- 
less, the real love and devotion with which we always 
regarded him were founded on a great many of just 



IN THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE 153 

such instances, which showed the sincere and loving 
spirit which hghted his every action. 

"Later in Hfe, when we were scattered in every part 
of this big country, we always had with us the tender 
memories of the happy Woodbine days. 

"Then and now, that occasion which brings any of 
us together is always hallowed by the beautiful spirit 
of our beloved teacher and friend, and every one of 
us feels himself or herself a better man or woman 
because we were privileged to know him." 

As I traveled back to New York, I thought how 
very few men or women have so truly a memorial 
chamber in the hearts of so many people. The words 
of George Herbert then arose in my mind, as most 
fitting and descriptive of the ceaseless unselfish activi- 
ties of him who we all, with one accord, mourned: 

"Only the actions of the just 
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust." 



FROM THOSE WHO KNEW 
HIM BEST 



From Those Who Knew Him Best 
THE PRACTICAL IDEALIST 

BY BORIS D. BOGEN 

The immigration wave from Russia in the eighties 
included a more or less compact group of young idealists 
who came not to make a comfortable nest for themselves 
or to achieve higher standing in their careers, but who 
dreamt of a better world to live in and dwelt within a 
Utopia of their own imagining. As a rule, they were 
wedded to some well-defined theory, and followed the 
latter with the fervor of fanaticism. In the course of 
their early experiences in America they encountered many 
a stumbling block in the way of the realization of their 
dreams and were, as time went on, shifted to other and 
more prosaic pursuits. 

There were only a few who remained bound to their 
ideals and although the workaday world found them 
thrown upon their own resources, they gathered together 
on the mutual ground of idealism. Their gathering place 
would be one of the tea houses on the East Side, where 
the bearers of "welt schmertz" nightly wended their way, 
discussed over and over again their complex problems, 
quarrelled over purpose, solution and method, and talked 
and talked and talked. Among these young dreamers 
were men of high intellect and strength of reasoning 
power. One bore a different expression from his fellows 

157 



158 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

— a purposeful, steady and firm resolve. He was not 
living in New York, but he frequently visited the city 
and then he too would join the "Russian Colony.*' 

At the tea house he was one of them and his visits 
were hailed as an event. He was welcomed royally. He 
would listen to the endless discussions and inquire into 
the details of the various local developments. But he 
never failed to impress upon his subject-matter his own 
personality. Idealist as he was, he did not detach him- 
self from the world of practical things. He too had an 
idea of an universal and all inclusive social order, but 
he did not insist upon the necessity of applying this 
world program within a limited sphere. All the world 
was his, so far as his sympathies were concerned, but 
what interested him was the actual contribution that he 
and his fellows could make. 

To these fellows of his he turned with his appraisal. 
What can you expect of people who fritter their lives 
away in useless discussion? You neglect your bodies — 
what use can you be to the world if you cannot look after 
yourselves ? Why do you stay in the city ? What future 
does this cafe hold in store for you? Bent on destroying 
the lure of the city, he never tired in picturing the beau- 
ties and glories of the country. He loved nature; the 
city, he felt, was not the place for mankind to grow. 

He suffered in his realization that the life of his com- 
rades was based upon a wrong tendency — a tendency that 
seemed to grip all about him. He knew that so long as 
they clung to the city, there could be no hope for his 
people. For it was the fate of the Jews that lay nearest 
his heart. In America he saw a wonderful opportunity 
for Israel to start life anew. But this could not be 
brought about by a passive attitude on the part of the 
leaders among the Jews ; it was they who must blaze the 



THE PRACTICAL IDEALIST 159 

path. The problem was not one for theorizing— the 
active energies of many leaders would be needed — to 
bring the Jew into the country where he might find 
himself. 

He did not limit his propaganda to his intimate circle 
of friends — he tried to exemplify his program within 
himself. For years before coming to America he had 
devoted himself to preparation for his life's work. He 
came to the New World a full fledged trained agricul- 
turist, ready and eager for the task he had set for himself. 

The idea of settling the newcomers on the soil was 
in vogue in those days. The Baron de Hirsch Fund 
had undertaken to finance various activities with this 
end in view. And for the leader in this gigantic task they 
selected this dreamer, who came to the barren stretches 
of Woodbine and claimed it for his promised land. 

Thus it was that Professor Sabsovich entered upon 
his life work. The location for the experiment had, 
unfortunately, been selected before his appointment. But, 
in the face of numerous and tantalizing difficulties, he 
plunged into his task. 

First it was merely a question of placing a limited num- 
ber of independent farmers in that region, thus forming 
the nucleus of a Jewish agricultural colony. But as the 
work grew new problems presented themselves, each lead- 
ing up to another and forcing a constant expansion in the 
activities. How could the products be marketed? How 
could the lure of the city be counteracted? Questions 
such as these never ceased to present new opportunities 
for service. 

The man in charge soon became the soul of the entire 
movement. He saw the problem as something more than 
a farm-letting venture. He lived in the village. He 
fought stubborn opposition. He stimulated the people 



160 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

who controlled the funds to see greater visions of what 
they might do. He aroused the interest and enthusiasm 
of the people for whom he worked. Leaping beyond 
the boundaries of his set program, he devised new plans 
and, throwing the whole force of his being into the 
struggle, brought about great pieces of social construc- 
tion almost single-handed. 

The first year of the twentieth century saw Woodbine 
as a neat little town sheltering over a thousand souls, 
boasting of the best schools in the county, streets, water 
works, electric power, a synagogue, stores and four or 
five factories. But this was not all. 

A special Agricultural School, started with practically 
nothing, was now a reality. In the beginning it had been 
a simple step. Just a few farmers* sons, receiving instruc- 
tion from the father of the enterprise, spent thrilling 
evening hours and the precious free hours of the day 
with him. The instruction returned them to the farm, 
skilled and equipped. The inspiration led them on, 
through college and into the world of success. So the 
idea of the school took root and started to grow. Modest 
surely — just for the children of the farmers — only a small 
investment. But before a year or two had passed the 
school had taken its place as a new center of educational 
experimentation. Buildings came up. A faculty was es- 
tablished. The Paris Exposition awarded the Woodbine 
Agricultural School the Grand Prix in 1900, and in 1902 
this triumph was crowned by the Gold Medal at the 
Buffalo Exposition. 

So Professor Sabsovich toiled on and dreamt on. Jew- 
ish farmers were settled on the lands and encouraged to 
go on. Industries were attracted to the village, so that 
they might draw the Ghetto dwellers from the city streets. 
The school, typifying the new ideal for Jewry, stood as 



THE PRACTICAL IDEALIST 161 

a beacon, lighting the way. But Sabsovich did not stop 
here. 

He developed a plan by which the real merit of the 
Jew as a citizen might be demonstrated. It was just at 
this time that public opinion was stirred against the im- 
migrant by accusations that he was degrading American 
politics. The corruption brought about by political rings 
was blamed upon the Jewish newcomer. It is not true, 
Professor Sabsovich claimed, that the Jew betrays his 
privileges. Whatever weakness he may show is due to 
his surroundings, to influences working in spite of him 
and against him. Give him a chance to participate in his 
government ; explain to him, in terms that he can under- 
stand, his high privileges and responsibilities. Then will 
the Jew serve as a model of good citizenship. Here again 
a practical demonstration was needed to prove the claim. 

At once he gave himself to this new idea. A separate 
borough charter was obtained for Woodbine; it became 
a political unit conducted solely by Jews. It showed 
splendid signs of wholesome communal development. 
Citizenship was no more a perfunctory obligation. It 
became rooted in the very lives of the inhabitants of 
the little village. A city hall was established; a civic 
club sprang into being and flourished; a modern health 
movement was launched ; a systematic educational regime 
was established. The school system in Woodbine today 
is still the best in the County. 

So Woodbine grew. Here the Jews, left to themselves, 
developed a sound social body, busying themselves with 
agriculture, industry and trade. Here, close to nature, 
their children flourished safe from the negative forces 
of the city streets. Here every home was a temple and 
the temple was the heart of the community. 

Twenty-five years of pioneer work bore fruit. The 



162 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

soil, once barren of everything but scrub bushes and white 
sand, had been transferred into a beautiful town with 
hundreds of homes, the thriving bustling activities of a 
tiny city and, on the outskirts the busy farms, the begin- 
ning and the sole idea upon which the entire enterprise 
was started. 

But these physical things cannot tell the story of 
Professor Sabsovich's entire achievements. His greatest 
contribution, perhaps, was his influence as a leader in 
the lives of the people. Hundreds, nay thousands, of 
young men were inspired by him to follow higher ideals, 
to prepare themselves for service, to consecrate them- 
selves to a cause. Entire families and their children's 
children, learned through him to love nature and the 
country life. 

Later he assumed the duties of General Manager of 
the Baron de Hirsch Fund in New York where, devoting 
all that was in him to the development of the Fund 
activities, he found time and opportunity to extend his 
influence into the various fields of Jewish social service, 
in the days when this service was just beginning to 
develop into a definite professional field. 

When Professor H. L. Sabsovich died, he left to all 
Jewry a legacy that grows greater with each passing year. 
To the Jewish social workers his life holds a meaning 
especially dear. His devotion to the cause, his persistence 
and faith in the possibility of getting things done, in spite 
of opposition and indifference, his courage to experiment 
on propositions that were likely to prove failures and, 
above all, his absolute identity with the work he did, 
lights the pathway of the social worker as a living 
inspiration, and his work points out the way as a guide 
in what the future must bring. 



A PIONEER SOCIAL WORKER 

BY SOLOMON LOWENSTEIN 

To be most authentic, an account of Professor Sabso- 
vich as a social worker should be written by one who 
knew him intimately during the time of his great work 
in the building up of the Woodbine Colony, but unfor- 
tunately most of his colleagues of that period are no 
longer available in social work. This defect, however, 
is rendered less serious by the beautiful and simple 
presentation of his activities at that time contained in 
the foregoing memorial by Mrs. Sabsovich. 

To those of us who were associated with him in his 
social service in later years, the impression that remains 
is chiefly one of a thoroughly human, sympathetic per- 
sonality whose really positive force and firm decision 
were always clothed by a congenial and lovable person- 
ality. His was a mind whose honesty no one could doubt 
for an instant— it was crystal clear. The elements of 
any question, no matter how complicated or intricate, 
revealed themselves to him almost instantly and he was 
able to formulate the resulting proposition in a form so 
clear and simple as to be intelligible to any who cared 
to listen. He knew no discrimination because of position 
or reputation or wealth. He was fearless in his judg- 
ment, once convinced of the rectitude of his position, no 
matter what institutions or personalities were involved. 
He had a power of righteous indignation, at times seem- 
ingly inconsistent with his ordinary gentleness of manner 
whenever he believed that injustice was being done, 
especially to the weak or the subordinate. 

163 



164 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

His work was carried on at a time when the trained 
social worker was still occupying a new and indefinite 
position among his professional brethren, when ethical 
standards had not yet been developed and when the rela- 
tions between paid workers and their volunteer boards of 
trustees were not always either harmonious or dignified. 

Though his own position was a happy one as a result 
of years of acquaintance and common work, he felt most 
keenly the difficulties of some of his less fortunate col- 
leagues and was foremost among those striving to dignify 
the position of social worker and to improve the per- 
sonnel of those engaged in these important tasks. As 
a result he was among the first to urge the need and to 
co-operate in the creation of special courses and schools 
for Jewish social workers and was particularly inter- 
ested in the establishment of a plan for retirement allow- 
ances and pensions for Jewish social workers so that the 
work might at least offer financial security and attractive- 
ness equivalent to that in the field of education. As 
President of the Jewish Social Workers of Greater New 
York and as Chairman of a special committee for this 
purpose appointed by the National Conference of Jewish 
Social Work, he labored to the full extent of his strength 
for this desired end. 

He was one of a small group of executives in New 
York, most of whom have now been lost to the profes- 
sion, by death or retirement, who for a number of years 
met monthly at the homes of the members for the dis- 
cussion of questions of common interest and for the 
improvement of their own work, that of the organiza- 
tions which they represented and of Jewish social service 
in general. It is impossible to estimate the value of these 
meetings in the progress of Jewish social service in New 
York and particularly in the development of professional 



A PIONEER SOCIAL WORKER 165 

spirit among those privileged to be of the group. Among 
all the members there was none whose advice was so 
eagerly sought or whose judgment more respected than 
Professor Sabsovich, and in this connection he displayed 
another of the charming qualities which so endeared him 
to his friends— the delightful hospitality of his home 
when in the regular course the group had the happiness 
to be the guests of Professor and Mrs. Sabsovich. His 
entertainment was so generous yet so thoroughly infor- 
mal and congenial, there was such a pervasive hospitality 
that the meetings at his home were likely to endure far 
beyond the normal hour. 

To the rest of the group, chiefly Americans by birth 
and early training, it was a rare advantage to be able 
to absorb from Professor Sabsovich (in this respect the 
late Dr. Blaustein should also be mentioned) the spir- 
ituality and idealism represented and acquired by them 
from their early life in Russia. Their wholehearted devo- 
tion to the masses of their people, the revolutionary ideals 
which they brought with them and the humanity of the 
relationship which they typified gave to us of a different 
background an inspiration and a stimulus the value of 
which cannot be overestimated. 

Thus in simplicity, in earnestness and enthusiasm he 
worked himself away. He was so quiet, so gentle in his 
zeal that we did not realize the extent to which he was 
giving of his strength to his daily work. The end came 
too soon and unawares. We were left with a sense of 
profound loss. We had lost a true friend and a noble 
man but the inspiration of his influence and his character 
has served to hearten many a worker who had the blessing 
of his friendship and shared with him in common service 
for the Jewish people. 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 

BY BERNARD A. PALITZ 

Professor H. L. Sabsovich stands in a niche all his 
own in the field of Jewish social service. His life was 
whole-heartedly, honestly and unselfishly dedicated to 
the hope of creating a new era in the history of his 
suffering people. In his labor for their welfare there 
was a spirituality that fired him with noble ambition, 
caused him to understand and feel the actual needs of 
the Jewish race as a whole and developed in him to a high 
degree that power of concentration, that tireless zeal and 
unshadowed depth of faith in the possibilities of a new 
Israel in this new land which made him notable from the 
day he shook the dust of his native country from his feet. 

His personality will for a long time, like a stream of 
light, linger in the memory of a host of friends and fol- 
lowers. As an exponent of the highest type of social 
workers, his name will forever be associated with the 
most interesting page in the history of Jewish social ser- 
vice in America. His life has this double interest for 
this as well as the generations to come. 

Professor Sabsovich came to his new land with his 
work found and mapped out and consecrated to the 
service of a cause, the underlying purpose of which was 
to tear out by the root the foe's repeated declaration — 
made in ignorance and based on twisted historical facts 
— that the Jew is inherently averse to productive labor, 
and to bring real and permanent blessedness and peace 

166 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 167 

to the Jewish immigrant running from the hosts of mad- 
dened mobs and oppressive, degrading, lawless laws. 

Jews were permitted, against the wishes of Peter Stuy- 
vesant, by the Dutch West India Company to settle in 
New York, on condition *'that the poor among them shall 
not become a burden to the community but be supported 
by their own nation." Little did they suspect that the 
time was coming when the Jewish settlers were not alone 
being prevented from falling a burden, but, by attaching 
themselves to the soil, were gradually lining up as pro- 
viders for the community, interested, as loyal citizens and 
responsible owners of homes, in its permanent welfare, 
morally and materially. 

To bring about this improvement on the stipulation 
of the Dutch West India Company was the ultimate aim 
of Baron de Hirsch, the ardent desire of the administra- 
tors of his foundation, and the unremitting efforts of 
their conscientious resourceful collaborator, Professor 
Sabsovich. 

Professor Sabsovich dealt with ideas which he strove, 
with sincere desire and proper understanding, to bring 
into real life. Contemplating on the past and present of 
his weary race, and through his close and intimate study 
of the relations of the non-Jewish to the Jewish masses, 
he became aware that the political and social emancipa- 
tion of the Jew, in any land, is not and will not, by itself, 
solve the Jewish problem and that our pointing with 
pride to Jewish great lights who won fame and stand 
high in the world's larger affairs does not affect the state 
of mind of the neighboring masses who come in contact, 
in their everyday life, with the Jewish masses only. He 
was convinced through personal observations and reflec- 
tion on the incessant trials of the Jew, whether in en- 
lightened or unprogressive lands — ^trials differing only in 



168 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

color and in form but not in substance — that hand in 
hand with the spiritual and intellectual reform there must 
come the economic emancipation of the Jewish masses 
which will make them an indispensable factor of their 
country's material existence and a part of the nation's 
nursing force. 

Recognized as a true social worker, equipped, in soul 
and mind, with the proper strength to cope with big 
problems, he was placed in charge of one of the most 
important tasks of the Baron de Hirsch Fund — that of 
directing the agricultural movement among the Jewish 
immigrant population. 

Activities in this direction were started in this country 
long before his advent, but the movement was all in a 
fog. The early attempts at colonization and farm settle- 
ment and things accomplished * are too well known to 
need reiteration here. The same characteristic marks 
noticeable in individual ventures made in haste, without 
due consideration and patient study, are found in philan- 
thropic enterprises, with emotion as the chief moving 
factor and not based on studied and thoroughly analyzed 
experience and not directed by a trained scientific mind. 

As one looking for results rather than aiming to simply 
"do things" he was determined to work out the agricul- 
tural activities among Jews to their proper consequences. 
While the aim of the movement was mainly economic, 
the means to reach it, he held, must run along both educa- 
tional and physical lines. Being himself highly intellec- 
tual and knowing that in order to fit one for leading 
positions in the great agricultural industry in this coun- 
try, he must be given an opportunity to acquire a thor- 
ough practical as well as theoretical training, Professor 
Sabsovich sought to interest the young rather than the 
adults. "Not only," said he, "is it necessary to change 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 169 

the physical habits and customs of the prospective farmer 
but a mental turn-over must be effected in order to bring 
results." 

The general absence of any vision on the part of many 
leaders in American Israel, regarding the agricultural 
movement, was a source of grave concern to him. So 
far the activities had been confined to settling on farms 
men of mature age with habits of living formed and city 
ideas of life embedded in them for centuries. 

Considering this movement for the future rather than 
for the immediate present, he addressed himself to the 
young and still growing minds and out of his efforts, the 
Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School for the Jewish 
youth became a reality. 

In his annual report for the year 1896, Professor 
Sabsovich writes: 

"Jewish agriculture in whatever part of the globe it 
may be practised, has a special interest and is of a par- 
ticular importance, not common to agriculture as such, 
and namely, it is a living proof of the falsehood of the 
assertion of the political anti-semites in Russia, that the 
Russian Jew avoids productive work, especially the noble 
vocation of the tiller of the soil. It further proves that 
whenever and wherever the Russian Jew enjoys political 
freedom and freedom of selection of a calling, he does 
not neglect agriculture as well. 

"Anything which helps to develop Jewish agriculture 
is of great importance above named. Our school which 
has grown from a very modest beginning is becoming one 
of the factors of improving and enlarging of Jewish 
agriculture in this country. That there is a tendency 
on the part of a large portion of newcomers to our 
country among the Russian Jews to devote their means 
and abilities to agriculture, the past has proved to be so.'* 



170 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

Agricultural training for the young was at the same 
time calculated to serve as a medium for the betterment 
of the material condition of the existing and prospective 
farmers of the older generation who, lacking the prac- 
tical and theoretical knowledge of American farming, 
needed guidance and advice. In the same report Pro- 
fessor Sabsovich writes: 

**It was natural to provide an institution for dissem- 
inating agricultural knowledge among the Jewish farm- 
ers by giving agricultural education to their children, 
and by preparing agricultural instructors and inspectors/' 

The early stages of the career of the Agricultural 
School were not without disappointments and hardships. 
At best it was a journey of some swerves and concussions. 
But devotion and persistency — his outstanding character- 
istics — increased with the growth of his conviction that 
the "out of the city and back to the country" idea was 
taking root in the heart and mind of the tired wanderer 
himself. No obstacle or hardship ever discouraged him 
or deterred him from prosecuting his task. For though 
an idealist, his actions were not founded on imagination 
nor grounded on fancifulness, but always carried the 
stamp of a constructive and creative mind. 

The enthusiasm with which hundreds of Jewish young 
men have entered and passed the Agricultural School, 
and adjusted themselves permanently to the farming 
trade and country life after graduation; the fact that 
shortly after the opening of the school in Woodbine a 
need for another similar institution became apparent, 
resulting in the establishment of the National Farm 
School ; the rapid spread of Jewish farming settlements 
in every State of the Union, the material betterment and 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 171 

general improvement of which is due, in a large measure, 
to the valuable educational help given by the graduates 
of the two schools ; and finally, the increasing number of 
Jewish students attending State agricultural institutions 
in the country, secondary schools and colleges, bring to 
light ample proof of the correctness of his judgment and 
his correct appraisal of the requirements and possibilities 
of Jewish agriculture. 

It also completely disproves the erroneous conclusion 
of our foes and friends alike that the Jew is too good a 
tradesman to make a good agriculturist. What is true 
is the fact that the Jew is too vigorous intellectually and 
has amassed during his long centuries of exile too large 
a fund of mental energy to limit himself to work of a 
physical character only. Agricultural education for the 
Jewish youth combining mental action and physical equa- 
tion was the movement shouldered by Professor Sabso- 
vich, encouraged by the Trustees of the Baron de Hirsch 
Fund. In this he saw the salvation of his people ; through 
this he comprehended a Judaism come back to its own 
and by this he sought to silence its traducers and libelers. 

Will this product of a useful life continue to blossom 
and bear further and larger fruit so that in due time a 
good part of our people will live in peace that only nature 
can provide? Will our practical leaders see the danger 
that threatens our moral, physical and political status 
and bend their energies towards the creation of a new 
social posture for our people so well started by our 
deceased friend? Will our philanthropists analyze and 
learn from the past and find out how much calumny there 
would have been checked, how much suflFering prevented 
and how many lives spared if the bulk of our people had 
been tillers of the soil instead of children of the Ghetto? 
Will those who have minds and hearts also have the 



172 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

vision to see that the changing order requires more pre- 
ventive than remedial charity! Will our statesmen re- 
member the cruel and unceremonious answer given by 
the Polish Premier to a Jewish delegation that he and 
the Polish people would rather see the Jews leave that 
country and, this being manifested covertly or openly 
by many other governments and peoples, will not those 
who watch over the destinies of the people see that no 
group or part of a population, attached to land as an 
essential limb of the national body, can be easily uprooted, 
heartlessly persecuted and suffered to be tossed about 
from place to place? Will they not all make haste and 
avail themselves of the golden opportunity oiTered by this 
free land, with its millions of inviting acres, and with 
the art of agriculture making giant strides, and thereby 
save millions of our brethren from torture and degrada- 
tion in the future, which has not or rather could not be 
done in the past? 

Let us hope, yes. Professor Sabsovich blazed the way ! 

Next to his intensive study and sublime efforts in the 
interest of agricultural education for the Jewish youth 
and the promotion of the farming industry among the 
Jewish population in general, his main and most impor- 
tant work, from the point of view of community organ- 
ization and methods of Americanization, was the found- 
ing and up-building of the town of Woodbine, which 
formed another chapter of a life replete with service and 
unselfish labor. 

Here, as in the many other activities of the Baron de 
Hirsch Fund, his native power, executive ability, genuine 
devotion and self-denial have manifested themselves in 
their full strength, and here, his personality, his character 
and his wonderful gift of inspiring people with con- 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 173 

fidence in themselves and loyalty to the cause he repre- 
sented, found scope and outlet. 

When it became evident that Woodbine could not per- 
manently exist as an exclusively agricultural settlement 
and that, in order to insure its economic stability, it must 
be reinforced by industrial opportunities, the Trustees 
of the Fund found Professor Sabsovich ready for the 
gigantic task of building the community, physically, edu- 
cationally, socially and politically. 

It is well to remark here, that, although the Baron de 
Hirsch Fund was the sponsor of Woodbine and stood 
behind all its initial undertakings, it was the early settlers 
themselves who, by hard labor and with the tenacity 
and endurance of the pioneer, have wholeheartedly co- 
operated in the working out of the problem of their new 
social unit, and who have proved themselves able to 
meet the requirements of American life and American 
concepts. 

In Professor Sabsovich they found their inspiration 
and his keen and practical insight into human nature and 
human motives enabled him to awaken the dormant quali- 
ties in men who, as free individuals and eager to tie 
themselves permanently to their new home-land, soon 
evinced their own vitality and discovered in their leader 
a personality with whom they could readily come to a 
feeling of unrestrained intimacy. 

The founding of the town of Woodbine and the deci- 
sion of the Trustees of the Fund to stimulate its growth 
and development constituted a duty of the hour. It was 
along the lines of a general course of action necessitated 
by the conditions that faced American Jewry, when the 
proportion of immigrants settling in the crowded cities 
threatened to produce a frame of mind in the American 
people against unrestricted immigration. 



174 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

Various plans have then been devised to help divert 
the stream from the large centers along the Atlantic 
coast to the interior of the country and smaller com- 
munities. The Baron de Hirsch Fund sought to avoid 
serious consequences by helping other organizations to 
establish immigrants in less congested localities, by sup- 
porting farm settlements, by erecting dwellings near New 
York, known as Borough Homes, and by subsidizing 
industries in Woodbine. 

Professor Sabsovich paid particular attention and took 
special pride in Woodbine not alone because of the ad- 
vantages of country life and wholesome social surround- 
ings it offered to the immigrant, but also because of the 
monumental opportunity it afforded to demonstrate be- 
fore the world the willingness and readiness of the Jew 
to adapt himself to the new forces which are moving a 
free people and his recognition and acceptance of the 
duties and responsibilities imposed, as well as the rights 
and privileges bestowed upon him by a free democracy. 

Indeed, the early Woodbine settlers have proven that 
the real and immediate solution of the problem of Amer- 
icanization lies not so much in organized propaganda 
and neighborhood influence as in the mental make up and 
ethical conception of the immigrant himself. 

Without any external and, if I may so call it, profes- 
sional Americanization programs, and not brought in 
direct and frequent contact with the native population, 
the newcomers at Woodbine have, spontaneously and 
instinctively, as if by the mere breath of the free atmos- 
phere, taken America as their ideal and reality. And it 
cannot be otherwise. Those who know the Jewish life 
in the centuries of wandering and the source from which 
it draws its spiritual and cultural subsistence must know 
the Jewish view and interpretation of the relationship of 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 175 

the individual to the interests of his nation and the social 
structure as a whole. In the words of Dr. Kohler: 

"The Jewish love of learning led to an ever greater 
longing for truth by adding wisdom of other cultured 
nations to its store of knowledge.^ 

"The idea of interdependence and reciprocal duty 
among all members of the human family forms the out- 
standing characteristic of Jewish ethics.^ 

"In fact, the State which guarantees to all its citizens 
safety, order and opportunity under the law and which 
arranges the relations of the various groups and classes 
of society that they may advance one another and thus 
promote the welfare and progress of all, is human society 
in miniature. Here the citizen first learns obedience to 
the law which is binding upon all alike, then respect and 
reverence for the authority embodied in the guardians 
of the law who administer justice *which is God's* and 
hence also loyalty and devotion to the whole, together 
with reciprocal obligation and helpfulness among sep- 
arate members and classes of society." ^ 

The Jewish immigrants in Woodbine started the build- 
ing of American public schools for their children and 
organized themselves into political groups and civic asso- 
ciations, in order to understand better how to serve their 
new land, in the same spirit and with the same enthu- 
siasm, as they erected their synagogues, formed brother- 
hoods and other religious and charitable institutions. 
Professor Sabsovich understood and encouraged them in 
their social and civic aspirations, as in their economic and 
educational strivings and, as leader, friend and counselor, 
grew in love and esteem of every man, woman and child 
in town. 

1. "Jewish Theology," by Dr. K. Kohler, p. 358. 

2. Ibid., p. 319. 

3. Ibid., p. 320. 



176 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

His care and solicitude for the good name of the newly 
formed community knew no bounds and he was as elated 
over the little boy or girl winning the prize in the inter- 
county spelling contest as he was proud of one of the 
graduates of the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School 
becoming the head of the Agricultural Department of 
the State and an authority on soil bacteriology. 

As early as 1892 he reports thus to the Trustees of the 
Fund: 

"How great such progress has been is best shown by 
the present aspect and condition of Woodbine ; its streets, 
roads, dwellings, schools, hotel, electrical plant, industrial 
establishments and farms, are more eloquent than any 
description that might be written. All those who saw 
Woodbine eighteen months ago* when it was nothing but 
a great barren plain, covered with a growth of stunted 
bushes, must acknowledge without reserve that a laud- 
able and well-directed energy, supplemented by the efforts 
of new immigrants has here opened up a broad field of 
prosperity. Hither we invite the narrcfw -minded .enemies 
of our immigrants to convert them in the face of such 
achievements, into friends." 

Again, in his report for the year 1898, he writes : 

"l1ie peaceful and progressive activity of the Wood- 
bine population is conquering the prejudices of our neigh- 
bors and there is hardly a thinking man in Cape May 
County who is not fast becoming convinced that Wood- 
bine has come to stay, not only for the benefit of its own 
population, but also for the community at large. The 
intelligent elements of the County, as represented in the 
County Teachers' Association, the Association of Mem- 
bers of the several Boards of Education, and the leading 
farmers, on several occasions, at their Annual Meetings 
and Institutes have expressed their appreciation of the 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 177 

educational work carried on by us ; in fact, our Agricul- 
tural School is becoming so popular that the Farmer's 
Institute of the Cape May County Board of Agriculture, 
under the auspices of the State Board of Agriculture and 
the State Grange was held at De Hirsch Hall, which is 
also selected as the place for the next Annual Meeting of 
the Association of the Educational Boards of the 
County." 

That not only the County but also the State authorities 
recognized the value of his work in Woodbine and his 
personal merits has been shown by the honor conferred 
upon him in electing him a life member of the Board of 
the State Agricultural College, in 1905. 

His relations to the people of Woodbine were fatherly 
and marked with most unselfish generosity. He was 
entirely free from all personal bitterness. On one occa- 
sion the writer was handed by him a letter addressed to 
him by a disgruntled manufacturer. The letter was full 
of insults and vilifications. To the questions what he 
will do about it, he answered, in his characteristic way, 
that his personal feeling did not matter, as long as the 
writer of the letter was otherwise a beneficial factor in 
the town. 

As could be expected under the circumstances, Wood- 
bine, as a typical Jewish immigrant community, has fo- 
cused the attention of many a sociologist interested in 
the life and doings of former abject subjects of dark 
countries and now sovereign citizens of this truly blessed 
Commonwealth. Among the many visitors and students 
of sociology there were some who justly or unjustly 
found fault with the management or the people. Pro- 
fessor Sabsovich never failed to explain honest criticism 
and to challenge censures called out by ulterior motives, 
or false observation. 



178 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

It may not be amiss at this juncture to correct a state- 
ment made by Mr. Peter A. Speek in his otherwise 
attractive treatise on the absorbing question of American- 
ization. In his book, *'A State in the Land/* page 176, 
there appears the following passage: 

"The local manager of the Hirsch fund in Woodbine, 
New Jersey, a Jewish colony, stated that there is in the 
colony a Hebrew school supported by individuals and to 
a certain degree by the Hirsch fund. It is a Hebrew 
school connected with activities of the synagogue, main- 
tained for religious purposes. It corresponds to the paro- 
chial school of Christian churches. About sixty pupils 
attend this school.** 

This is entirely contrary to the facts. The Hebrew 
school referred to is not a parochial school. It is a 
school where Hebrew is taught. It is a place where the 
children are given religious instruction, after the regular 
public school hours. There was no such thing with the 
Jewish people of Woodbine as a parochial school, in 
the sense and with the purpose it is maintained and con- 
ducted by other denominations mentioned in other parts 
of his book and justly criticized by him. There was 
not and there is not one child of school age in Wood- 
bine who does not attend the public schools and the 
great majority of the graduates of the latter enter high 
schools. These schools are maintained partly by the 
State and partly by the Borough and supervised by the 
County Superintendent, and their curriculum is fixed by 
the State and County authorities. There is not a young 
man or a young woman in Woodbine whose tongue is 
not English and whose thought is not American. They 
are, of course, taught by their parents the tenets of their 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 179 

religion. It would indeed I5e a sorry departure if this 
were not the case. 

On the other hand, a more thorough observer, who 
also visited Woodbine recently for the same purpose, 
has the following to say about the educational activities 
of the Jews of that town: 

"While the center of the Bohemian community was 
seen to be the freethinking society, and that of the Dutch 
community the church, in the case of this Jewish com- 
munity the center is the public school. A supervising 
principal is in general administrative charge. The pres- 
ent incumbent has held this position some twelve years. 
Although himself a Christian, he is thoroughly interested 
in and identified with the community, as are the members 
of his family. 

"School attendance is excellent, and there is little ab- 
sence, except on the part of non-Jewish children, in 
whose case regulations are not strictly enforced. There 
are a few children of the local native American stock, 
who are unprogressive and deficient both physically and 
mentally. Only about 10 per cent of the Jewish chil- 
dren leave to go to work before completing the eighth 
grade; of those who remain, close to 90 per cent go to 
high school ; and of these, in turn, nearly half finish the 
high school course." * 

From the start the influence of Professor Sabsovich 
permeated every phase of the town development and 
especially education matters. But he was careful not 
to interfere with the desire of the people and their free- 
dom of action, and it was one of the remarkable traits 
of his character that he knew how to fix the boundaries 
of his influence. 

1 "America via the Neighborhood," pp. 50-51, by John Daniels. 



180 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

When Woodbine was incorporated into a separate 
Borough he felt that his mission as leader of the com- 
munity had ended, and that the people would achieve 
more in the absence of outside influences than in their 
presence, when they themselves are the sole keepers of 
the doors of opportunity. Actuated by this motive, he 
accepted the post of General Agent of the Baron de 
Hirsch Fund, when it was offered to him, in 1905. 

His coming from Woodbine to New York was not to 
Professor Sabsovich a sudden move from the desert to 
a cultivated field. For though in Woodbine, he was 
active in a distinct sphere of social endeavor, his interest 
in general charity and philanthropic affairs of the Jews 
in America was ever alive and he was always a con- 
spicuous figure in the deliberations of the Jewish Social 
Workers at their national conferences. The monograph 
on the way Jewish charity was dispensed in Russia, sub- 
mitted at one of these conferences, by him and Dr. David 
Blaustein, was an important contribution to Jewish char- 
ity literature, and his views on general human activity 
were sought and respected at those gatherings. 

Though his duties as General Agent of the Baron de 
Hirsch Fund were numerous, he was ever ready to give 
his time and lend his counsel to other great questions 
pertaining to the welfare of the Jews. 

He took a prominent part in the formation of the 
Jewish Immigration Committee and the National Jewish 
Immigration Council, whose purposes were to see that 
the immigrant upon his arrival receives proper treatment 
and to coordinate immigration societies in the several 
ports of entry, and served as secretary of the former 
organization from its inception, in 1910, to his death. 

For some time he was President of the Society of Jew- 
ish Social Workers of Greater New York. In this capac- 



A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 181 

ity he learned and formed his opinion on the general 
status of the Jewish social worker in this country, mate- 
rially and in other respects. The various opportunities 
offered in social work have been analyzed and individual- 
ized by him for the benefit of the younger workers, and 
the bringing about of a new standard in the profession 
was one of the many problems in which he was concerned 
during the last years of his earthly life. 

He strongly advocated the opening of special courses 
for the training of Jewish social workers, and the idea 
of founding a social workers* pension fund originated 
with him and was given expression at the National Con- 
ferences. In his memorable address, delivered before 
the National Conference in June, 1911, he made the fol- 
lowing striking remarks: 

"Jewish philanthropic and charitable institutions in 
the United States are no longer satisfied with the serv- 
ices of the amateur worker or of the down and out mem- 
bers of respectable families of the communities. They 
want well-prepared and thoroughly qualified workers." 

"There is at present a scarcity of well-prepared and 
qualified workers. Last year about half a dozen fine 
positions in the country went a-begging. 

"To attract the Jewish young men and young women 
and to retain them in service, the following are impor- 
tant requisites: 

"1. To raise social service to the dignity of a profes- 
sion by demanding professional preparation on the part 
of the social worker. 

"2. To offer to the prospective social worker a salary 
sufficient for a modest but decent living. 

"3. To assure the social worker that he or she will 
not starve in the case of a breakdown or a total dis- 
ability, and that his or her family will not suffer should 
they die/' 



182 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

In the history of Jewish social service the work of 
Professor Sabsovich will be recorded and judged by the 
fruit it has borne, and by the unselfish motive with which 
this work was carried on. For he did not make his 
profession "a crown wherewith to aggrandize himself," 
nor "a vestibule that he may enter a palace" of ease and 
riches. The field of social effort for the good of his 
people was his palace and the burdens he carried all 
through life were his crown. 

He loved his burdens and bore them gladly, patiently 
and willingly. Like Hamsun's Isak, **life without a load 
was" to him "no life at all." 



OUR TEACHER 

BY SAUL DRUCKER 

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, 
and loving-kindness, rather than silver and gold." 

And because he had chosen as he did, his mourners, 
whose names are legion, will cherish the good name he 
left and keep the heritage of loving-kindness he gave 
them, with greater pride and care than if it had been 
silver and gold bequeathed. 

Born in Russia, that most unfortunate of all birth- 
places for the Jew, Hirsch Loeb Sabsovich in the early 
adolescence of his manhood, while still a student at the 
University, keenly realized the efforts made by the anti- 
Semitic government to dwarf the Jew both physically 
and mentally, and cripple his opportunities. He knew 
the futility of appealing to the justice of officials who 
excused their mediaeval persecutions and cruelties under 
the plea that the Jew is a consumer and not a producer; 
he knew, too, the several spasmodic and theatrical at- 
tempts made by the government to make the Jew a 
producer of the soil, which had suffered disastrous fail- 
ure, naturally enough, because the Jew had neither the 
knowledge nor the wherewithal to become a soil pro- 
ducer. It was then that the conviction took firm root 
in his mind that nothing like being a producer of the soil 
would bring independence and happiness to his people, 
and gradually the "Back to the Soil" Movement origi- 
nated in his brilliant brain. 

He immigrated to the United States, and at once inter- 

183 



184 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

ested himself in Jewish colonization. Within three years 
of his landing in this country, his views on the subject 
attracted such favorable attention that, while still occupy- 
ing the position of professor of chemistry at the Colorado 
State Agricultural College, he was invited by the trustees 
of the Baron de Hirsch Fund- to take charge of the Wood- 
bine Colony. The task confronting him was an extremely 
difficult one. His object was to teach scientific farming 
to the few who really, by the sweat of their brows, eked 
out a wretched subsistence from the soil, and to interest 
those who accepted the new idea with the presumption 
that it would be easy to resume an avocation which cen- 
turies upon centuries ago had been wrested from their 
fathers. But the chopping down of trees, the selling of 
wood by the cord, the digging out of stumps, and the 
general labor of tilling the soil were not found to be 
adaptable to the first settlers, and particularly not to the 
younger generation of would-be farmers. A problem 
presented itself, then, the very problem that today con- 
fronts the non-Jewish farmer: **How is the younger 
generation to be kept on the farm?" With the Jews, 
however, the problem was more serious, since the agri- 
cultural life of the people depended upon interesting 
the youth in the soil. 

It was then that Professor Sabsovich proved himself 
to be a good psychologist. In his thirst for knowledge 
and opportunity the young immigrant would not be satis- 
fied with mere farm labor, no matter how promising was 
the prospect as a future tiller of the soil. As a result 
of this observation the Agricultural School of Woodbine 
was established, where the children of farmers, and 
others attracted by agriculture, could be given a general 
education while learning scientific farming. It was an 
experiment, but so well was a demand fulfilled, and such 



OUR TEACHER 185 

was its progress, that it became an established institu- 
tion, thanks to the indefatigable labor, patience and en- 
ergy of the man whose fertile mind conceived it. 

The colony and the school prospered, one gaining 
strength from the other, and both mutually helpful. The 
school attracted attention throughout the country, the 
trustees of the Baron de Hirsch Fund were interested 
and enthusiastic, and the Professor realized his dream 
of educating the youth of his people for the soil, so that 
the Jew should take naturally and willingly to agricul- 
ture. 

Still, the good heart and able brain were not content 
with their achievements, but continued to work and plan. 
Believing that industry wouM materially assist the farm- 
ers during the long, cold winters. Professor Sabsovich 
gradually but surely succeeded in interesting business 
men in his plans, and several factories were established. 
To these factories came workers of various trades in 
large numbers ; they bought small homes, cultivated and 
developed the land around their homes, and, with thrift 
and diligence, rose to be prominent citizens of the colony. 
It was then that the many-sided nature of the Pro- 
fessor had full play. As manager of the colony, he was 
at once brother and friend to each and every one of the 
colonists, rejoicing, encouraging, commending in good 
fortune; and consoling, cheering and sympathizing in 
misfortune and misery. He was also the peacemaker 
and arbitrator in all civic and domestic dissensions, wisely 
holding that Jewish cases should not come before the 
legal courts. In this way he prevented, or amicably 
settled, disputes that otherwise would have brought con- 
demnation, or, to say the least, unfriendly criticism upon 
the colonists from the neighboring villagers, who were 
at first not disposed to regard them with favor. 



186 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

As superintendent of the Woodbine Agricultural 
School the Professor was a wise teacher and a judicious 
mentor. The boys found in him what many had in all 
their lives lacked — a source of inspiration and an inter- 
ested friend and counselor. His rule was one of love, 
and as he sowed, so he reaped, for few fathers are as 
beloved and respected as the Professor is, even today, 
by many of his "boys/* 

Prof. Sabsovich combined idealism with common sense, 
and that he succeeded in bringing many of his dreams and 
visions to a very practical and material form amply at- 
tests that fact. For several years he cherished the hope 
of establishing in his beloved Woodbine a sort of Jewish 
government, under the state laws of New Jersey, and 
made every effort to incorporate Woodbine as a separate 
borough. Infinite patience and energy were required, 
yet, despite his manifold duties, the Professor ultimately 
succeeded in seeing his ardent desire fulfilled. Wood- 
bine became a small Jewish government, a separate town- 
ship, with its own Mayor, common council and its own 
city departments. In its gratitude, of course, Woodbine 
unanimously elected Professor Sabsovich its first Mayor, 
and its Mayor he continued until he was called to New 
York City to asstmie the responsibilities of general man- 
ager of the Baron de Hirsch Fund. This position he 
occupied until his death. 

His last request was that he be buried in Woodbine, 
— the Woodbine he made and loved, and which loved 
and will love him for all time. There he lies in peace, 
and, while his memory will remain green in the hundreds 
of hearts which knew and loved him, and the world con- 
tinue to be enriched through the many lives he inspired 
and moulded with his own indomitable spirit and high 
aspirations, his monument in real and tangible form will 



OUR TEACHER 187 

be the place where the immigrant Jew first learned the 
independence and blessing of living the life of a tiller 
of the soil — Woodbine. 

Could any man desire a better monument? 



THE BARON DE HIRSCH AGRICULTURAL 

SCHOOL 

BY JACOB G. LIPMAN 
Director of New Jersey Agricultural School 

In planning the establishment of an agricultural col- 
ony the Trustees of the Baron de Hirsch Fund had 
occasion to examine and consider a number of sites. 
They finally selected a tract of about six thousand acres 
in the vicinity of Woodbine and Mount Pleasant in 
Cape May County, New Jersey. Their final decision 
as to the location was influenced partly by the low cost 
of the land and partly by the equable climate, favorable 
rainfall conditions and the proximity of the land to im- 
portant eastern markets. 

When Professor Sabsovich was appointed agricultural 
adviser of the newly established colony, and was later 
made responsible for its agricultural and industrial devel- 
opment, he realized that he was confronted by certain 
serious and almost insuperable difficulties. He recognized 
that the open, sandy and gravelly soils of Cape May have 
their possibilities. He saw that with proper methods of 
tillage and fertilization they could be made to grow 
profitable crops of vegetables, small fruits and tree fruits. 
He likewise recognized that the transforming of the 
newly cleared scrub oak and pine lands into productive 
soil called for a degree of technical skill and of special 
information not possessed by the immigrants from the 

188 



DE HIRSCH AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL 189 

fertile plains of southern Russia or the heavy, low, clay 
or loam soils of Poland and of the Baltic Provinces. 

Gradually he came to feel that the first generation of 
farmers at Woodbine would, at best, make unsatisfactory 
progress, but that, by training the sons and daughters of 
these farmers in the newer methods of farming and par- 
ticularly in those most directly applicable to the sandy 
and gravelly soils of the Coastal Plain, it might become 
possible to extend gradually the acreage of cleared and 
improved land and to place farming in the new colony 
on a sound basis. His conviction thus grew stronger 
in behalf of organizing more or less systematic training 
in technical and theoretical agriculture. 

It is probable that the thought as to the organizing of 
an agricultural school at Woodbine was fairly mature 
in 1892. His contact with Dr. E. B. Voorhees, late 
Director of the New Jersey Experiment Station, appar- 
ently strengthened his determination to utilize to the 
fullest extent every opportunity that might offer itself 
in behalf of the establishment of an agricultural school. 
In the fall of 1893 he suggested to the writer of this 
article and to Jacob Kotinsky, another of the young 
farmers at Woodbine, that it might be wise for them to 
prepare themselves to enter the State Agricultural Col- 
lege at New Brunswick. His enthusiasm and his offer 
of moral and financial support served as a powerful 
stimulus to both of us, even though we had been out 
of school for some years. We applied ourselves faith- 
fully to preparation in mathematics and in other subjects 
required for admission to the College. 

Through the kindness of Professor Sabsovich we met 
Dr. Voorhees in the fall of 1893 and were by him further 
encouraged to prepare for an agricultural course at the 
College. His clear vision permitted Professor Sabsovich 



190 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

to see that the young men, through their contact with local 
needs and problems reinforced by a technical training in 
agriculture, might be made useful in supplying to their 
neighbors and to others who might become a part of the 
agricultural community the technical information so es- 
sential for the successful farming of the lighter soils 
of southern New Jersey. Throughout the fall of 1893 
and the following spring and summer Professor Sabso- 
vich never missed an opportunity to encourage them in 
their preparation for college and to tell them of the 
opportunities for service that would open to them after 
they would have acquired the necessary training and 
preparation. He saw very clearly then that special prob- 
lems of fertilization, special types of crops, the control 
of injurious insects and of fungus diseases, the feeding 
of livestock and many other problems were insistent and 
would become more insistent as time went on. 

The Trustees of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, to whom 
Professor Sabsovich broached the subject of establishing 
an agricultural school, were not entirely ready to accept 
his suggestions. Not being as intimate as he was with 
the local conditions and needs, they could not see the 
connection between technical training and successful 
farming in Cape May County. In spite of lack of en- 
couragement and in many instances of actual discourage- 
ment. Professor Sabsovich never lost faith in the ultimate 
success of his plan and urged whenever and wherever he 
could that funds be made available for systematic instruc- 
tion in agriculture. 

Finally a modest beginning was made in 1895, when 
instruction was more or less regularly organized for a 
group of the sons of local farmers. This instruction 
included classroom training in certain general subjects 
like arithmetic, modern history and geography, as well 



DE HIRSCH AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL 191 

as purely agricultural subjects. The equipment was quite 
limited in extent. Nor were there funds available for 
the hiring of men trained in the teaching of technical 
agriculture. Indeed, the methods of teaching agricul- 
ture were quite crude in those days even at the state 
agricultural colleges. The body of knowledge, out of 
which textbooks are made, was meagre and the connec- 
tion between classroom and laboratory instruction and 
field practice less clearly definite. For this reason, Pro- 
fessor Sabsovich and his associates had to feel their way 
as they went. Changes in the curriculum were made fre- 
quently as experience indicated improved methods of 
teaching. As funds became more ample laboratory as 
well as classroom instruction was organized and the 
agricultural equipment was made more adequate. 

Within a decade after the establishment of the school 
Professor Sabsovich succeeded, through untiring efforts, 
in providing a modern school plant. A large brick 
building, containing offices, classrooms and laboratories, 
dormitories large enough to house nearly one hundred 
students, dairy barns and silos, poultry buildings, green- 
houses, storage sheds, machinery repair sheds, dining 
halls and other buildings were erected and courses in 
systematic study organized. 

A body of young but promising instructors were gath- 
ered about Professor Sabsovich and the Baron de Hirsch 
Agricultural School became nearly two decades ago a 
pioneer in its field of vocational training in agriculture. 
Many of the faculty attained prominence as investigators 
and teachers in agriculture. Men like Professor White 
of Cornell, Lewis of Rutgers College, Billings of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, Garrigues of 
the Connecticut Agricultural College and a number of 
others began their professional careers at the Baron de 



192 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

Hirsch Agricultural School. The success of many of the 
graduates of the institution, their attainments in practical 
agriculture and in the profession of agriculture bear 
testimony to Professor Sabsovich's clearness of vision 
and justified his faith and his devotion to the cause of 
agricultural education. 

In later years the Trustees of the Baron de Hirsch 
Fund found it necessary to remove the agricultural school 
from Woodbine. They were guided principally by the 
wish to locate their school nearer to New York City, 
where most of the students came from and where a num- 
ber of the active Trustees lived. There were also other 
reasons which to them seemed sufficient for building a 
new school plant in the vicinity of New York City. 
Meanwhile, the World War came to disturb the normal 
activities in the United States and the young men who 
would ordinarily have become students at the school 
were called to military service. The plan of the Trus- 
tees to develop a new school plant was, therefore, never 
carried out. 

It is doubtful whether, under conditions as they exist 
today, there would be justification for making a large 
investment in the school in order that it might be made 
to function again. The vocational agricultural schools 
which have come into being within recent years make the 
reopening of the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School 
unnecessary. It may be said, therefore, that Professor 
Sabsovich has established an institution which rendered 
an important service at a time when other institutions of 
a like nature were not available. He fulfilled a great pub- 
lic need. He laid the foundation of character ; he taught 
many young men the power of ideals and of devoted 
service. Having for many years unselfishly labored for 
the cause, having been faithful to his trust, having built 



DE HIRSCH AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL 193 

much that is indestructible, Professor Sabsovich needs 
no monument of granite to perpetuate his memory. His 
own example of loyal service will continue to be the 
inspiration of those who, like him, would serve their 
fellowmen. 



THE JEWISH FARMERS' BEST FRIEND 

BY JOSEPH W. PINCUS 

Professor Sabsovich was to me more than a teacher, 
an ideal preceptor. He was a real friend, who played a 
very determining part in my career, as he has played in 
that of many young men in America. 

Even before I came to the United States I heard of 
Professor Sabsovich through the letters of my deceased 
father, who preceded me and the rest of our family to 
this country, by six or seven months. In the letters my 
father wrote that he had had the pleasure of meeting 
Professor Sabsovich, a "landsman of ours from Ber- 
diansk," and that, together with the Professor, just then 
appointed agriculturist by the newly-organized Baron 
de Hirsch Fund of America, he had been inspecting farms 
in Bridgeton and other sections of the State of New 
Jersey. 

Although I came to America in the fall of 1891, I did 
not have the opportunity of meeting Professor Sabso- 
vich until the spring of 1895, when, largely on his ad- 
vice, I entered the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School 
at Woodbine. While the School was established in 1894, 
all the pupils up to 1895 were sons of Woodbine settlers, 
and I had the distinction of being the first student from 
outside the colony. Well do I remember the warm re- 
ception and hearty welcome which I received from the 
Professor and his family upon my arrival at Woodbine; 
and from the first day of my acquaintance with him I 
formed an attachment for him which grew into real 

194 



JEWISH FARMERS' BEST FRIEND 195 

affection, increasing from year to year as I learned to 
know the man better and came into closer contact with 
him. It was entirely due to his advice and influence that 
I decided to enter an agricultural college, to return to 
Woodbine to become his co-worker and to devote 
twenty years of my life to work for and among Jewish 
farmers in the United States. 

From the very beginning of the Woodbine Colony, 
while the tract of land was covered with pine and oak 
trees, which the pioneers were clearing away, he saw 
the necessity of imparting proper scientific information 
to the farmers, and the first winter at Woodbine, Pro- 
fessor Sabsovich delivered lectures, illustrated with stere- 
opticon slides, on agricultural topics. Notwithstanding 
his numerous and arduous duties at Woodbine, he found 
time to go frequently to the South Jersey Jewish colonies, 
at Alliance, Carmel and Norma, and address the farmers 
there, encourage them in their work, and deliver illus- 
trated lectures. As far back as 1895 he advocated the 
establishment of a canning factory in these colonies, and 
about ten years later they were established in each one. 

In 1894 he went to Chesterfield and Colchester, Conn., 
to deliver lectures to the Jewish farmers there. These 
were delivered in Yiddish. As Professor Sabsovich was 
born and reared in South Russia (Ukraine), and his 
native language was Russian, his Yiddish was rather 
poor, and he had to learn the language in order to make 
himself understood. The Professor was the first man 
in the United States to deliver lectures in Yiddish on 
agricultural topics, and he thus preceded by about fifteen 
years the work of itinerant instruction, and lecturing in 
Yiddish, inaugurated by the Jewish Agricultural and 
Industrial Society in 1908. 

The first exhibition of farm products raised by Jewish 



196 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

farmers in America was also arranged by Professor Sab- 
sovich in 1897 at the Hebrew Educational Society's build- 
ing in Philadelphia. At this fair there were products 
not only from Woodbine, but also from all other Jewish 
colonies in New Jersey, as well as from many farmers 
in Connecticut. About five or six years later, also at 
the initiative of and participation in of Professor Sabso- 
vich, an exhibition of Jewish life in the country was 
held at the Educational Alliance Building in New York 
City. This exhibit showed by photographs, charts, etc., 
how people lived on farms and in small villages in the 
United States. It was held under the auspices of the 
Baron de Hirsch Fund, the Jewish Agricultural Society, 
and the Removal Office, and was a revelation to city 
dwellers, as it revealed to them the fact that New York 
was not "America"; that there were hundreds of small 
villages and thousands of farms throughout the country 
where Jews lived happily, and where there was plenty 
of room and opportunity for city dwellers to breathe and 
live comfortably in beautiful surroundings, away from 
squalid and cramped quarters in the Big City. The ex- 
hibit was a wonderful success, and received the very 
favorable comment of the press ; and, by special requests 
from Boston, Philadelphia and other large cities, it made 
the round of these places. 

While talking of exhibits, it is also interesting to point 
out the fact that Professor Sabsovich was always inter- 
ested in bringing to the attention of the outside world 
the ability of the Jew to become a successful farmer, 
and for this reason he never lost an opportunity of ex- 
hibiting the products and results of the work in Wood- 
bine Colony. At many of the Cape May County Fairs 
and others held in the State of New Jersey, he encour- 
aged the farmers and the Agricultural School to exhibit 



JEWISH FARMERS' BEST FRIEND 197 

crops, and there was not a happier man in the State when 
a Jewish farmer or the School was awarded a prize or 
blue ribbon for a great pumpkin, a fine hen or a plate 
of superb peaches. 

At the Universal Paris Exposition held in France in 
1900 an exhibit was prepared under his direction, and a 
silver medal was given for the Exhibit of Special Educa- 
tion in Agriculture ; another silver medal for Appliances 
and Methods in Horticulture and Arboriculture, and a 
grand prix for Exhibit of School Appliances. 

At the Pan-American Exposition, held in Buffalo, 
N. Y., in 1901, for an exhibit of photographs, charts, 
etc., of Woodbine Colony and the Agricultural School, 
prepared by Professor Sabsovich, an Honorary Mention 
Diploma was awarded. 

For the World's Fair, in St. Louis, Mo., 1904, a more 
elaborate exhibit was prepared, consisting of several 
hundred photographs, showing in detail the, progress of 
the Colony in agricultural, social, religious and munici- 
pal fields, and also the work and life of the pupils at the 
Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School. Besides photo- 
graphs there was a complete set of publications of the 
School, covering the Baron de Hirsch Fund, the Colony, 
pupils' work, textbooks used, charts, diagrams, reports, 
etc. The excellence of the exhibit can be judged not only 
by the award of the gold medal by the St. Louis Fair 
officials, but by the fact that Harvard University re- 
quested that this particular exhibit be presented to its 
Department of Social Science, where it is at present 
located. 

All the time, during 1891 to 1905, although exceed- 
ingly occupied with the work of managing the Colony, 
and the organization and directing of the School, and 
notwithstanding several physical breakdowns suffered. 



198 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

Professor Sabsovich took an active interest in the wel- 
fare of the Jewish colonists in New Jersey and other 
states. He went frequently for conferences to New York 
with Mr. Arthur Reichow, in charge of the New York 
office, through whose efforts the sister organization, the 
Jewish Agricultural Industrial Society was started, and 
its first General Manager. This society took over all 
the agricultural work done by the Fund, with the excep- 
tion of the Agricultural School. Later Professor Sab- 
sovich was appointed a member of the Jewish Agricul- 
tural Society. 

When Professor Sabsovich became the General Agent 
of the Baron de Hirsch Fund in 1906 and settled in New 
York City, his duties did not bring him into contact with 
the farmers, as this work had been taken over by the 
Jewish Agricultural Society. But many farmers, when- 
ever they wanted a sympathetic hearing or advice on any 
subject, would write to him and frequently visit him, and 
he continued to take an active interest in the welfare of 
the Jewish farmers until his last days. 

When the Federation of Jewish farmers of America 
was organized in January, 1909, he was unanimously 
elected as the First Honorary member, and he addressed 
the first as well as all the other annual conventions. In 
the fall of 1909, in connection with the Convention of 
the Farmers, an agricultural fair and exhibit was held 
on the roof and in the gymnasium of the Educational 
Alliance, and Professor Sabsovich was chairman of the 
Jury of Awards. The fair was a very successful one and 
hundreds of exhibits of fruits, vegetables, dairy, grain 
products, and the results of the skill of the farmers* 
wives, in canned goods, preserves, etc., were sent in by 
Jewish farmers from New Jersey, Connecticut, New 
York, Massachusetts, and even from North Dakota and 



JEWISH FARMERS' BEST FRIEND 199 

other western states. The Professor worked very hard 
for several days, examining all these offerings, with 
experts from the State Agricultural Experiment Stations, 
and awarding medals and diplomas for the best exhibits. 
Any reader happening to visit the homes of these farmers 
today would see these framed documents on the walls, 
where they would be pointed to with pride and the sig- 
nature of Professor Sabsovich with sorrow. 

On numerous occasions the Professor and I visited 
Colchester, Conn., Ellington, Conn., and Nassau, N. Y., 
to address the local associations of the Jewish farmers. 
I recollect that, on several occasions, although his health 
was very poor, he would go, in order that the farmers 
might not be disappointed, and frequently we had to 
travel fifteen to twenty miles by horses, as at that time 
there were no automobiles. 

I remember clearly the last meeting attended by Pro- 
fessor Sabsovich. It was the organization meeting of 
the First Farmers* Saving and Loan Association under 
the newly organized Land Bank of New York, held at 
Centerville Station, Sullivan County, N. Y. It was early 
in the spring of 1914, and the Professor was convalescing 
after rather a severe illness at Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, 
and I stopped there for him, and he went, accompanied 
by Mrs. Sabsovich. We arrived safely at Centerville 
Station, and the Professor spoke a few encouraging 
words to the farmers. After the meeting we drove over 
to Mr. Samuel Shindler's farm at Hurleyville, and as the 
elevation is about fifteen hundred feet there and the air 
cold and rarefied to a marked degree, the Professor spent 
a very restless night. Mrs. Sabsovich was certainly glad 
to get him back home safely. 

When the Federation of Jewish Farmers of America 
was organized, there was created an advisory committee. 



200 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

of which Professor Sabsovich, of course, was a member. 
He never missed a single meeting, unless ill in bed. He 
kept up this interest until the last days of his life. About 
a week or ten days before his death, Mr. Hein, President 
of the Federation of Jewish Farmers, and I visited him 
at his bedside, and he asked a number of questions about 
the work of the organization. 

When the Jewish Agricultural Society started the pub- 
lication of The Jewish Fotrmer in May, 1908, I consulted 
with him on this venture, as I remembered that as far 
back as 1891 Professor Sabsovich was instrumental in 
publishing The Jetmsh Farmer; but, due to the rather 
limited number of Jewish farmers, it appeared for only 
about one year. He was, though, the first man in Amer- 
ica who felt that there was a need for a special publica- 
tion for them, and in 1904 he was editor of Farmers* 
Leaflets, published at Woodbine and containing timely 
articles on farming contributed by the instructors at the 
Agricultural School. 

Besides his active participation in every phase of Jew- 
ish agriculture, Professor Sabsovich took an active part 
in the agricultural affairs of the state. He was for a 
number of years the Secretary of the Cape May County 
Board of Agriculture, and in that capacity submitted a 
number of very interesting reports on agricultural con- 
ditions in the County. These were all incorporated in 
the annual reports of the New Jersey State Board of 
Agriculture. Some of the contributions were so inter- 
esting and well written that the special attention of the 
Governor of New Jersey was called to them, and Profes- 
sor Sabsovich was invited a number of times to important 
conferences. He was later appointed a Trustee of the 
New Jersey State Agricultural College and Experiment 
Station at New Brunswick, N. J., the first and probably 



JEWISH FARMERS* BEST FRIEND 201 

the only Jew who ever held such an honorary position. 
He attended and took an active part in the annual con- 
ventions of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture 
and the New Jersey State Horticultural Society. 

There has not been an agricultural movement of any 
kind among Jews in which Professor Sabsovich did not 
participate, or regarding which his valued advice was not 
sought ; therefore it is no wonder that all the old farmers 
in New Jersey and other eastern states remember and 
revere him. In Woodbine the clearing of the land, the 
planting of fruit trees, the equipment of the farms and 
all the numerous details were done u-nder his personal 
supervision. He had a remarkable memory and could 
recall not only the names of all the farmers, but the names 
of all the children ; and, when visiting the farms months, 
or even years later, would inquire about each and every 
individual member of the family. 

Besides his remarkable influence on the Jewish farmer, 
I desire to note briefly his wonderful influence upon the 
younger generation. Early at the start of Woodbine 
Colony, he saw the importance, the necessity of interest- 
ing' the children in farming, and it was largely due to his 
effort and perseverance that the trustees of the Baron de 
Hirsch Fund started the Agricultural School in 1895. 
The growth and progress of the School was largely due 
to his indomitable energy, courage and ability to work 
against almost insuperable difficulties and obstacles. I 
hope that some day a historian will be foimd to describe 
minutely the tremendous work that Professor Sabsovich 
accomplished at the Woodbine Agricultural School. I 
wish to mention here the names of a few pioneer Jewish 
agriculturists who embarked on this career in 1894 and 
the years that followed, at a time when medicine was 
considered the only honorable profession for the Jew in 



202 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

America. It was largely, if not entirely, due to the 
Professor's advice and frequently to the financial aid 
obtained by him for many of the students at the agricul- 
tural colleges that so many of the men took up these 
courses. 

The first men who were graduated from agricultural '■ 
colleges in the United States in 1898 were : Jacob G. 
Lipman, Jacob Kotinsky and myself. Dr. Jacob G. Lip- 
man, besides becoming a renowned soil bacteriologist and 
author of several scientific books, is now Director of the 
New Jersey State Agricultural Experiment Station and 
Dean of the College of Agriculture of New Jersey State 
University, the highest agricultural educative position 
ever held by a Jew in America, or probably in the world. 
Jacob Kotinsky was for a number of years a prominent 
entomologist, occupying positions of responsibility in the 
Hawaiian Islands and in the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture. 

Among many others, the following may be mentioned : 
David Fink, entomologist in the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture; Marcus Smulyan, also an entomologist; 
Dr. Charles B. Lipman, Professor of Soil Chemistry at 
the University of California ; George W. Simon, Western 
Agent of the Jewish Agricultural Society; Dr. Arthur 
Goldhaft, a successful practicing veterinarian at Vine- 
land, N. J.; Dr. I. V. Stone, a chemist. I could go on 
and enumerate many, many more successful farmers, 
doctors, veterinarians, social workers, lawyers, etc., who 
owe their start in life in this — their new country of adop- 
tion — to the advice, help and splendid example of service, 
for the benefit of his people, of their dear friend and 
teacher. Professor H. L. Sabsovich. 

The foregoing brief sketch of the Professor's devotion 
and activity for the Jewish farmer is very inadequate, 



JEWISH] FARMERS' BEST FRIEND 203 

and does not do justice to the first man who had the real 
vision that in farming lies the salvation and regeneration 
of the Jewish race. Had his advice been followed to a 
larger degree and had there been more dreamers of his 
kind, we might have had a different picture of the Jew 
in America and less suffering in the whole world ! Had 
we now a few hundred thousands, instead of a few thou- 
sands of successful Jewish farmers in the United States, 
possibly we would not have restriction of immigration 
and vast numbers of our unfortunate brethren in Central 
Europe would have a haven of refuge ! Had we several 
hundreds of successful colonies and several good agricul- 
tural schools, the prospects for the Jew in America and 
the ultimate Jewish settlement of Palestine would be 
much brighter ! 

The hundreds of young men who have been graduated 
from the agricultural schools and colleges in this country, 
and many hundreds who are now students at these insti- 
tutions still have an opportunity to show to the world 
that Professor Sabsovich, the pioneer agriculturist and 
dreamer, did not sacrifice his life in vain; that his won- 
derful example of devotion to the cause of the Jew in 
agriculture has not been lost ; and that coming years will 
show how successful the settlements in Palestine will be 
and how multiplied in prosperity and numbers the Jewish 
farmers of America. 



THE LEADER OF JEWISH AGRICULTURE IN 

AMERICA 

BY GEORGE W. SIMON 

The historian recording the progress of Jewish Farm- 
ing in the United States, would undoubtedly consider 
the late Prof. H. L. Sabsovich as the father of the organ- 
ized Jewish agricultural movement in the United States. 
While there were several attempts to colonize the Jewish 
people prior to 1890, the leaders were, as a rule, laymen 
and knew little about agriculture. Their work had mainly 
a charitable aspect with a touch of idealism to it, and 
therefore the results were usually negative. Prof. Sab- 
sovich was the first trained agriculturist connected with 
the Jewish farming movement in this country, and his 
were the first efforts of a systematic and practical nature 
towards creating a Jewish farming class in the United 
States. He had great faith in the possibilities of Jewish 
farming in this country and possessed a keen insight as 
to how to develop the new field of activities among our 
Jewish people. 

Considerable criticism was heaped upon the Professor 
in the Jewish press and by the general public at large 
because the Baron de Hirsch Fund concentrated its ef- 
forts in Woodbine, New Jersey, in the early nineties, 
a locality which was in the poorest agricultural section 
of that state. It was natural for outsiders to blame the 
man who was at the head of that enterprise. Had the 
people considered the matter carefully, they would have 

204 



LEADER OF JEWISH AGRICULTURE 205 

learned that the Professor was not responsible for the 
selection of the locality. They would then have realized 
the heroic and indefatigable work of a great leader who 
sacrificed his life and health to make a success of the 
enterprise in spite of ttie adverse conditions. They would 
have appreciated his efforts to further the cause of Jewish 
farming and thus protect the name of our Jewish people 
by proving to the world at large that the Jews can be 
producers as well as consumers. 

While I lived in New York, it was my privilege to 
spend Saturdays and Sundays with the late Professor 
Sabsovich and take long walks through the parks, when 
we would discuss various problems pertaining to the 
question of Jewish farming. About three years before 
he passed away, during one of these conversations, he 
told me, that in looking over the old papers in the office, 
he came across his first report which he submitted after 
his first visit to Woodbine. In that report he pointed 
out the difficulties which must be overcome in Woodbine 
and the natural obstacles in the way of success. He 
then suggested that the Jewish settlers should be directed 
to New England, where land with good buildings could 
be purchased very reasonably, and where the conditions 
are more favorable to diversified farming. A few years 
later his suggestion was adopted and since then the efforts 
of the Fund were directed towards settling people on 
developed farms in New England, New York, New Jer- 
sey and elsewhere. It is a most gratifying fact that the 
most progressive and prosperous settlement of Jewish 
farmers in the United States is located in Connecticut, 
where they practically control the tobacco growing in- 
dustry. 

Nevertheless, Professor Sabsovich's work in Wood- 
bine has not been done in vain, since it will serve for the 



206 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

future leaders in the agricultural movement as a light- 
house serves to the stranded ship in the night or in the 
fog, warning them to keep away from the shore and 
look out for the breakers. The experiments carried on 
in Woodbine, N. J., while not always bringing the desired 
results, are nevertheless invaluable and will serve as a 
basis for practical study of land settlements and will save 
a loss of time and money, as well as prevent failure, if 
the people who are interested will avail themselves of 
the opportunity to look into this carefully. In his work 
at the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School, which is dis- 
cussed elsewhere, he has helped to create a class of 
trained scientific Jewish agriculturists, whose leadership 
is indispensable to the cause of Jewish farming. Many 
of these have become leaders in agriculture in the United 
States. 

During the last ten years of his life as the head of 
the Baron de Hirsch Fund, his activities were in widely 
scattered fields of social endeavor, but his influence upon 
the agricultural movement among the Jewish people, 
while indirect, was nevertheless predominant. 

Professor Sabsovich was one of the first to advocate 
and edit The Jezvish Farmer publication in Yiddish in 
the year 1900, which was later on suspended for a while 
until we had sufficient people who could utilize the serv- 
ices of such a paper. He was one of the first to advocate 
the introduction of horticulture and agriculture in the 
various orphan asylums in the United States, since in 
his opinion many of the wards would develop an inclina- 
tion to take farming up as a vocation and thus afford 
many a healthy opportunity to grow outside of the con- 
gested and overcrowded cities. The importance of this 
suggestion has not been realized as yet, but the fact is 
that while we have gradually developed a class of Jewish 



LEADER OF JEWISH AGRICULTURE 207 

farmers and while we have a number of young men who 
have taken up agriculture as a vocation from the practi- 
cal and scientific point of view, most of them are handi- 
capped in carrying out their desire because they cannot 
find Jewish girls who would be willing to share with 
them their lives on a farm. We are still to find a way 
to develop the love for country life among our Jewish 
women. The suggestion made by the late Professor 
Sabsovich would serve as a good nucleus for that purpose. 

For twenty-five years, quietly and unassumingly he 
continued to use his influence in directing the agricultural 
movement among our Jewish people in the United States, 
and the results obtained in that field can to a great extent 
be placed to his credit, since the majority of the present 
leaders in that field have directly or indirectly felt his 
influence. 

Unfortunately, like Moses, he was not destined by 
fate to lead his people to the promised land. He did 
not live to see the present development of the Jewish 
agricultural movement in this country, which is now 
greatly expanding. There were very few Jewish farmers 
when Prof. Sabsovich first started to work among our 
people and encourage them to take up farming. 

There are now over 10,000 prosperous Jewish farmers 
in the United States, tilling and occupying over 1,000,000 
acres of land worth from $75,000,000 to $100,000,000 at 
the least. I am sure that he would rejoice to witness 
the splendid progress attained by our Jewish people in 
the field of farming, but I am inclined to believe that he 
had the foresight to feel it and to know it, which gave 
him the courage to continue persistently his fight in that 
direction. 

The writer, who has for the past fifteen years been 
actively connected with the Jewish farming movement 



208 FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST 

in the United States, is in a position to state authorita- 
tively that the Jewish farmers are recognized as leaders 
in their various communities. Furthermore, in some 
branches of farming, such as tobacco growing, fruit 
growing, poultry raising, and other branches, our Jewish 
farmers, if they do not excel, are at least equal to any 
of the native farmers in the United States. 

In the above brief sketch I endeavored modestly to pay 
a well deserved tribute to a great man, a leader of our 
people, who sacrificed his life in his efforts to serve a 
worthy cause. May his life serve as an inspiration to 
the Jewish people and especially to those who are en- 
gaged in the field of social endeavor, so we can at least 
say that the Professor did not live in vain. 



